Hesperiidae
Skippers

Kingdom: Animalia
  Phylum: Arthropoda
    Class: Insecta
      Order: Lepidoptera
        Family: Hesperiidae (Latreille 1809)
          Subfamily Coeliadinae
          Subfamily Euschemoninae
          Subfamily Eudaminae
          Subfamily Pyrginae
          Subfamily Heteropterinae
          Subfamily Hesperiinae
          Subfamily Megathyminae
          Subfamily Trapezitinae

This is a really diverse group: there are about 3,500 species in about 550 genera.

In comparison to Papilionidae butterflies, Skippers have stockier bodies and "crochet hooks" on the end of their antennae (rather than the clubbed-end of Papilionidae-image on right).

Skippers tend to have a fairly drab brown-and-grey colouration and species can look (frustratingly!) similar, especially when they've been flying for awhile and their scales have started to rub-off.

In Jamaica, 50 species have been recorded...tho' 12 records are considered questionable by Brown & Heineman (1972), so let's say 38 species have been reliably recorded.

  • 9 species are endemic and occur nowhere else in the world;
  • 5 are recognized as endemic at the sub-species level.

    • We're pleased to highlight the newest species of butterfly discovered on Jamaica.
    The skipper Troyus turneri was first seen by Vaughan Turland in 2011 when Thomas Turner and he were surveying for butterflies in southern Cockpit Country. Vaughan recognized immediately that he was unfamiliar with this animal. And, gosh, was he right. By comparing it to existing museum specimens of Neotropical butterflies, they realized it represents an entirely new species AND genus!

    Troyus turneri is the only species in this new genus, it is the only endemic genus of butterfly on Jamaica, and so far it's known to occur ONLY is southern Cockpit Country!

    Turland, V.A., A.D. Warren, and D.S. Lewis. 2012. A new genus and species of Moncini from Jamaica, West Indies (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae, Hesperiinae). Tropical Lepidoptera Research 22:66-73.