Gegenes niso

Common Hottentot skipper
G. niso on red sunflower
G. niso on garden heliotrope
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Gegenes
Species: G. niso
Binomial name
Gegenes niso
(Linnaeus, 1764)[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio niso Linnaeus, 1764
  • Hesperia letterstedti Wallengren, 1857
  • Pamphila indica Mabille, 1883
  • Gegenes hottentota ocra Evans, 1937
  • Thymelicus brevicornis Plötz, 1884

Gegenes niso, the common Hottentot skipper or plain Hottentot skipper, is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is found in Africa. It is found in a wide range of habitats, including savanna, grassland and open patches in forests.[2]

The wingspan is 29–33 mm for males and 29–35 mm for females. Adults are on the wing year-round in warmer areas (with a peak from October to March) and from October to March in cooler areas.[3]

The larvae feed on Ehrharta species (including Ehrharta erecta), Pennisetum clandestinum, Zea and Cynodon species.

Subspecies

Range: southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and South Africa, where it occurs in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern and Western Cape provinces
Range: west, central and east Africa, including Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia

References

  1. ↑ Gegenes at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. ↑ Afrotropical Butterflies: Hesperiidae - Subfamily Hesperiinae
  3. ↑ Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.


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