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Background Butterflies (Papilionoidea) are perhaps the most charismatic insect lineage, yet phylogenetic relationships among them remain incompletely studied and controversial. This is especially true for skippers (Hesperiidae), one of the most species-rich and poorly studied butterfly families. Methods To infer a robust phylogenomic hypothesis for Hesperiidae, we sequenced nearly 400 loci using Anchored Hybrid Enrichment and sampled all tribes and more than 120 genera of skippers. Molecular datasets were analyzed using maximum-likelihood, parsimony and coalescent multi-species phylogenetic methods. Results All analyses converged on a novel, robust phylogenetic hypothesis for skippers. Different optimality criteria and methodologies recovered almost identical phylogenetic trees with strong nodal support at nearly all nodes and all taxonomic levels. Our results support Coeliadinae as the sister group to the remaining skippers, the monotypic Euschemoninae as the sister group to all other subfamilies but Coeliadinae, and the monophyly of Eudaminae plus Pyrginae. Within Pyrginae, Celaenorrhinini and Tagiadini are sister groups, the Neotropical firetips, Pyrrhopygini, are sister to all other tribes but Celaenorrhinini and Tagiadini. Achlyodini is recovered as the sister group to Carcharodini, and Erynnini as sister group to Pyrgini. Within the grass skippers (Hesperiinae), there is strong support for the monophyly of Aeromachini plus remaining Hesperiinae. The giant skippers (Agathymus and Megathymus) once classified as a subfamily, are recovered as monophyletic with strong support, but are deeply nested within Hesperiinae. Conclusions Anchored Hybrid Enrichment sequencing resulted in a large amount of data that built the foundation for a new, robust evolutionary tree of skippers. The newly inferred phylogenetic tree resolves long-standing systematic issues and changes our understanding of the skipper tree of life. These resultsenhance understanding of the evolution of one of the most species-rich butterfly families. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-018-1216-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

We list the chromosome numbers for 65 species of Neotropical Hesperiidae and 104 species or subspecies of Pieridae. In Hesperiidae the tribe Pyrrhopygini have a modal n = 28, Eudaminae and Pyrgini ...

Partial life histories are presented for Spialia kituina (Karsch), S. spio (Linnaeus), S. diomus (Hopffer), S. colotes transvaaliae (Trimen), S. dromus (Plotz), S. ploetzi (Aurivillius), S. zebra bifida Higgins and Gomalia elma elma (Trimen). All feed on species of Malvaceae. An earlier record from Kenya of Melhania velutina as the food plant of S. depauperata depauperata (Strand) was based on a misidentification and there are no known records of the food plant of this subspecies. Spialia ferax (Wallengren) stat. rev. is considered a valid species rather than a subspecies of S. diomus, based on significant differences in wing patterns, the shape of the valves, a zone where neither occurs, no signs that a cline is involved, and differences in the colouring and markings of the caterpillars. The convergence of the biology of the chequered skippers of the tribes Carcharodini, Pyrgini and Celaenorrhini is discussed.

We propose a revised higher classification for the genera of Hesperiidae (skipper butterflies) of the world. We have augmented our published DNA data matrix with 49 morphological characters in order to infer relationships for taxa not sampled in the molecular study. We use the results of a combined analysis to identify morphological synapomorphies of the suprageneric clades of Hesperiidae, and to hypothesize a phylogenetic classification of the world’s genera of Hesperiidae, the first of its kind for this diverse group. Monophyly of the family Hesperiidae is strongly supported, as are some of the traditionally recognized subfamilies. The results presented here largely corroborate those of our molecular study, but differ in several details. The Australian endemic Euschemon rafflesia is given subfamily status, as is Eudaminae. We recognize seven subfamilies of Hesperiidae: Coeliadinae, Euschemoninae (confirmed status), Eudaminae (new status), Pyrginae, Heteropterinae (confirmed status), Trapezitinae and Hesperiinae. We treat Pyrrhopygini, Tagiadini, Celaenorrhinini, Carcharodini, Achlyodidini, Erynnini and Pyrgini as tribes of Pyrginae. Circumscriptions of Achlyodidini and Pyrgini require further elucidation. Tribes of Hesperiinae include Aeromachini, Baorini, Taractrocerini, Thymelicini, Calpodini (reinstated status), Anthoptini (new tribe), Moncini and Hesperiini. The tribal placement of many Old World hesperiine genera remains ambiguous.

A new species of Celotes is described from central Mexico, bringing the total number of species in this genus to three. The new Celotes is larger and darker than its two congeners, and is immediately distinguished from them by a combination of a very long and curved projection from the valva, broad valvae, terminally narrowing less massive harpe, smaller tegumen and narrower uncus. These abundantly distinct genitalic characters, together with whitish, but rounded, scales on the dorsal surface of the male metathoracic pouch strongly argue for the species-level recognition of this seemingly allopatric Celotes phenotype.