Gegenes niso

Common Hottentot skipper
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 nisoLinnaeus, 1764 Hesperia letterstedtiWallengren, 1857 Pamphila indicaMabille, 1883 Gegenes hottentota ocraEvans, 1937 Thymelicus brevicornisPlötz, 1884

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]

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

• 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

• 
  G. niso on red sunflower
• 
  G. niso on garden heliotrope
• 
  Mating pair on Helichrysum auriceps

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.