Gegenes niso, the common Hottentot skipper or plain Hottentot skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Africa. It is found in a wide range of habitats, including savanna, grassland and open patches in forests.[2]
| Common Hottentot skipper | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hesperiidae |
| Genus: | Gegenes |
| Species: | G. niso
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| Binomial name | |
| Gegenes niso | |
| Synonyms | |
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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 various grass species, namely Ehrharta species (including Ehrharta erecta), Pennisetum clandestinum, Zea and Cynodon species.
Subspecies
edit- Gegenes niso niso
- Range: southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa, where it occurs in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern and Western Cape provinces
- Gegenes niso brevicornis (Plötz, 1884) – plain Hottentot
- Range: west, central and east Africa, including Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia
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G. niso on red sunflower -
G. niso on garden heliotrope -
Mating pair on Helichrysum auriceps
_on_Helichrysum_auriceps_(Asteraceae)_(46548842244),_crop.jpg)
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Afrogegenes letterstedti.
Wikispecies has information related to Gegenes niso.
- ^ Gegenes at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ Afrotropical Butterflies: Hesperiidae - Subfamily Hesperiinae
- ^ 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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