| Firetips, firetail skippers | |
|---|---|
| Male Pyrrhopyge sergius specimen (left antenna missing) |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hesperiidae |
| Subfamily: | Pyrginae |
| Tribe: | Pyrrhopygini Mabille, 1877 |
| Diversity | |
| 4 subtribes | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Pyrrhopyginae |
|
Firetips or firetail skippers are the tribe Pyrrhopygini of the skipper butterflies (family Hesperiidae). The roughly 150 species are found only in the Neotropics, with the exception of one species which just reaches into the USA. Their common names refer to the red tuft at the end of the abdomen of many Pyrrhopygini.[1]
They were formerly treated as distinct subfamily Pyrrhopyginae. But they actually belong to the large and diverse spread-winged skipper subfamily (Pyrginae), as the pyrgine tribe Tagiadini is their closest living relative.[1]
Of the four recognized subtribes of firetail skippers, one (the Zoniina) is monotypic, containing only the species Zonia zonia. The subtribes are:
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pyrrhopygini Pyrrhopygini] at Wikimedia Commons