Giant skipper

The giant skippers (Megathymini) are a tribe of butterflies in the family Hesperiidae.[1]

Giant skippers
Agathymus aryxna
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Subfamily: Hesperiinae
Tribe: Megathymini
J. H. Comstock and A. Comstock, 1895
Genera

See text

Synonyms
  • Aegialini Stallings & Turner, 1958
  • Agathymini Stallings & Turner, 1959

Taxonomy

Formerly, some authorities have classified the tribe as the disputed subfamily Megathyminae, but more modern classifications have placed it within the subfamily Hesperiinae. The tribe Megathymini includes five genera and about eighteen species. These butterflies typically live in desert areas of the south-western United States and Mexico.[2]

Biology

The giant skippers are larger than the other members of the family Hesperiidae, but are medium-sized butterflies with thick bodies.[3] They tend to be brown with yellow markings. The antennae are unhooked and some species even possess a short apiculus.[2] Long hairlike scales are present on the upperwings of males.[2] Their flight is fast and rapid.[3] Males are territorial and tend to perch on low vegetation.[3] Adults do not derive sustenance from flowers and rarely feed.[2][3] Males do visit wet sand in order to drink.[2]

The eggs of members of the genera Megathymus and Stallingsia are glued to leaves, while the eggs of Agathymus species are dumped into host plant clumps.[2] The caterpillars of the giant skippers bury themselves into the leaf or stem of a plant and feed from within the silk-lined tunnels they create. Pupae are formed in these tunnels.[2]

Genera

The tribe of includes the following genera:

References
  1. Li, Wenlin; Cong, Qian; Shen, Jinhui; Zhang, Jing; Hallwachs, Winnie; Janzen, Daniel H.; Grishin, Nick V. (2019-03-26). "Genomes of skipper butterflies reveal extensive convergence of wing patterns". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (13): 6232–6237. doi:10.1073/pnas.1821304116. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6442542. PMID 30877254.
  2. "Subfamily: Giant-Skippers". Butterflies and Moths of North America. Montana State University. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
  3. Daniels, Jaret C. (2003). Butterflies of the Carolinas. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications, Inc. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-59193-007-5.
  4. Zhang, Jing; Cong, Qian; Shen, Jinhui; Grishin, Nick (2022-03-14). "Taxonomic changes suggested by the genomic analysis of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera)". Insecta Mundi.
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