''Nicephellus'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus of

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bi ...

butterflies in the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

, in which it is placed in tribe

Phocidini The Eudaminae are a subfamily of skipper butterflies ( family Hesperiidae). Their original type genus ''Eudamus'' is today a junior synonym of '' Urbanus''. They are largely found in the Neotropics, with some extending into temperate North Amer ...

. The sole species of the genus is ''Nicephellus nicephorus'', also called the two-spotted scarlet-eye, and was originally described in 1876 by

William Chapman Hewitson William Chapman Hewitson (9 January 1806, in Newcastle upon Tyne – 28 May 1878, in Oatlands Park, Surrey) was a British natural history, naturalist. A wealthy collector, Hewitson was particularly devoted to Coleoptera (beetles) and Lepidopter ...

as ''Eudamus nicephorus''. It is found from southern Mexico to Peru and western Brazil. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is 28–30 mm. The wings are dark brown with red-brown overscaling basad on both wings, with faint pale discal macules on the posterior hindwings (at times extending to the forewings).

Original description

References

Eudaminae Monotypic butterfly genera {{Hesperiidae-stub