Tag Archives: Hesperiidae

Hesperia meskei ssp. pinocayo Gatrelle & Minno in Gatrelle, Minno & Grkovich

Rockland Meske’s Skipper (Hesperia meskei ssp. pinocayo)

The Rockland Meske’s Skipper is a subspecies of Meske’s Skipper (Hesperia meskei W. H. Edwards) (see photo below) that was described in 2003 and that apparently was restricted to the Florida Keys, a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, USA.

It was already nearly extinct when it was described.:

The taxon is within the Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key and is therefore already afforded habitat and disturbance protection. However, the number of individuals have now declined so greatly that some type of breeding program seems called for soon if not immediately.” [1]

The butterfly was officially declared extinct in 2013.

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References:

[1] Ronald R. Gatrelle: A subspecific assessment of the genus Hesperia (Hesperiinae) in eastern North America (part I: the south) New subspecies of Hesperia meteea, Hesperia sassacus and Hesperia meskei. The Taxonomic Report 4(3). 2003

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Meske’s Skipper (Hesperia meskei), nominate form

Photo: Will Stuart
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/willstuart2001

(under creative commons license (4.0))
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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edited: 28.04.2022

Oriens alexina (Plötz)

Samoan Skipper (Oriens alexina)

The Samoan Skipper, sometimes considered a subspecies of the Fijian Skipper (Oriens augustula (Herrich-Schäffer)) (see photo) or even as a synonym of it, however, both forms differ significantly from each other.

This species is known only from the island of ‘Upolu, Samoa, but was not found there in recent years and might in fact be extinct. [1]

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References:

[1] Brian H. Patrick; Jean-Pierre Policard: The butterflies of Wallis and Futuna. The Weta 49: 28-33. 2015

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Fijian Skipper (Oriens augustula (Herrich-Schäffer))

Photo: Bird explorers
http://www.inaturalist.org/people/birdexplorers
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

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edited: 11.10.2020

Epargyreus zestos ssp. oberon (Worthington)

Florida Zestos Skipper (Epargyreus zestos ssp. oberon)

The Florida Zestos Skipper was a subspecies of the Zestos Skipper (Hesperia zestos (Geyer)) (see photo below) that was endemic to parts of Florida, USA.

The butterfly had disappeared from the mainland by the 1980s; it was last observed in January 2004 in the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden on Stock Island.

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Note: This subspecies is apparently not excepted by all entomologists.

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syn. Endamus obveron Worthington

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Zestos Skipper (Hesperia zestos), nominate form

Photo: Noah Frade
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/noaboa
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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edited: 28.04.2022