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Skippers
Hesperiidae
Skippers are a group of butterflies placed in the family Hesperiidae within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea, but have since been placed in the superfamily Papilionoidea (the butterflies). They are named for their quick, darting flight habits. Most have their antenna tips modified into narrow, hook-like projections. Moreover, skippers mostly lack wing-coupling structure available in most moths. More than 3500 species of skippers are recognized, and they occur worldwide, but with the greatest diversity in the Neotropical regions of Central and South America.
13 branches of this family, most-observed first
Grass Skippers
subfamilyHesperiinae
Spread-wing Skippers
subfamilyPyrginae
Dicot Skippers
subfamilyEudaminae
Flat Skippers and Allies
subfamilyTagiadinae
Skipperlings
subfamilyHeteropterinae
Coeliadinae
subfamilyCoeliadinae
Australian Skippers
subfamilyTrapezitinae
Firetip Skippers and Allies
subfamilyPyrrhopyginae
Euschemoninae
subfamilyEuschemoninae
Barcinae
subfamilyBarcinae
Chamundinae
subfamilyChamundinae
Malagasy Skippers
subfamilyMalazinae
Scarce Sprite Skippers
subfamilyKatreinae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Hesperiidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 47653.