| Regent Skipper | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
|
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
|
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hesperiidae |
| Genus: | Euschemon Doubleday, 1846 |
| Species: | E. rafflesia |
| Binomial name | |
| Euschemon rafflesia (Macleay, [1827]) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Several, see text |
|
The Regent Skipper, Euschemon rafflesia, is a skipper butterfly (family (Hesperiidae). It is found in Australia. It is the only member of its genus Euschemon.[1]
It is large by Hesperiidae standards, but still a fairly small butterfly. Its common name refers to the gaudy coloration, basically black with conspicuous yellow and red dots and bands. A peculiar trait of this butterfly are the males' frenulum and retinaculum which couple the fore- and hindwing together in flight. This structure is presumably plesiomorphic for most or all Macrolepidoptera, but is absent in all known Rhopalocera (butterflies) except E. rafflesia and the moth-butterflies (Hedylidae).[1]
It was formerly often included in the tribe Tagiadini of the subfamily of spread-winged skippers (Pyrginae). But in reality, it seems to be the single most distinct living skipper butterfly. Consequently, it is treated as a monotypic subfamily Euschemoninae, as was first proposed by William Forsell Kirby as early as 1897.[1]
The Regent Skipper, in addition to the systematic uncertainties that have surrounded it for long, is a rather variable species. Consequently, it has been treated under a variety of names, which are nowadays considered junior synonyms. For example:
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Euschemon_rafflesia Euschemon rafflesia] at Wikimedia Commons