Skippers

I guess I'm not a very good lepidopterist. I didn't realize that, in addition to butterflies and moths, there is a third family of lepidoptera called skippers. I found this out while trying to identify this "butterfly" on my African Blue Basil plant.

One way to tell the difference is with the antennae. Butterflies' are clubbed, skippers' are hooked, and moths' are often ferny. If you click on the photo to enlarge you can see the hooks on this guy's antennae.



The skipper's wings also remind me of a paper airplane, or maybe nature's version of the FA-18.