![]() That’s about as much taxonomy as I want to get into, because skippers are daunting enough. (Previously, Hesperiidae was placed in its own superfamily, Hesperiodea.) We have about 30 species of skippers in the Bay Area, each belonging to one of two subfamilies: the spread-wings (Pyrginae) and the branded or grass skippers (Hesperiinae). Skippers are classified in the order of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), within the family Hesperiidae, which now belongs to the superfamily Papilionoidea, the superfamily of butterflies. I can even look back on those childhood afternoons and say with reasonable assurance that I was watching fiery skippers ( Hylephila phyleus). But the day came-honestly, after about six years of getting it wrong-when I started to feel confident about anything that landed in front of me. When butterfly mania took hold of me decades back I thought I’d never crack the skippers’ code: the creatures are impish, and maddening to learn. The greatest diversity of species is found in the Neotropics, but they occur worldwide save for New Zealand-more than 3,500 species of skippers in all.ĭistinguishing between those species is not easy. Most have clubbed antenna tips modified into narrow, hooklike projections and lack the wing-coupling structure of most moths. Commonly considered something between a butterfly and a moth, they are diurnal (day-flying) and named for their quick, darting movements. Though I didn’t know it then, I was watching skippers. They seemed to look back through big, doe-like eyes with an attitude of “Catch me if you can!” They were the color of animal crackers, blasting past me to land on blades of grass. I remember, somewhere in between learning to walk and starting kindergarten, lying on the cool grass in the backyard and watching them. ![]() ![]() Common checkered-skipper (left) and Umber skipper (right). ![]()
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