''Tagiades'', commonly known as snow flats, is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of spread-winged skipper butterflies. It is the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Tagiadini The Tagiadini are a tribe (biology), tribe of skipper butterfly, butterflies in the family Skipper (butterfly), Hesperiidae. Many of its genera were of uncertain relationships for long, and delimitation of the Tagiadini versus the Celaenorrhinin ...

of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Pyrginae Pyrginae, commonly known as spread-winged skippers, are a subfamily of the skipper butterfly family (biology), family (Hesperiidae). The subfamily was established by Hermann Burmeister in 1878. Their delimitation and internal systematics has chan ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Hesperiidae Skippers are a group of butterflies placed in the family Hesperiidae within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea, but have since been placed in the superfamily Papilion ...

. It contains seventeen

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

; three of which are found in tropical Africa, while fourteen are found from India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, northeast Australia, to the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. They are primarily diurnal butterflies, and can usually be found in

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

s at up to

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. They can sometimes be encountered in partially cleared or cultivated areas. They are fast flyers, flying at an average height of . They usually rest on the undersides of leaves. When disturbed they will fly away but will usually return to the preferred area, often to the same leaf.

Species

* '' Tagiades atticus'' (Fabricius, 1793) * '' Tagiades calligana'' Butler, 879/small> - Thailand, Malaysia,

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

, Singapore,

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Nias Nias (, Nias: ''Tanö Niha'') is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, but also includes the Batu Islands to the southeast and the small ...

Belitung Belitung (Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. It covers (including offshore islands such as Mendanau Island), and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 Cen ...

, and

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

* '' Tagiades ceylonica'' Evans, 1932 * '' Tagiades cohaerens'' Mabille, 1914 - Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, the northwestern Himalayas, and possibly China * '' Tagiades elegans'' Mabille, 1877 * '' Tagiades flesus'' (Fabricius, 1781) (clouded forester) -

Transkei Transkei ( , meaning ''the area beyond Great Kei River, he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei (), was an list of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa f ...

to Zimbabwe and Botswana in Africa * '' Tagiades gana'' (Moore,

866 __NOTOC__ Year 866 ( DCCCLXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * April 21 – Bardas, the regent of the Byzantine Empire, is murdered by Basil the Macedonian at Miletu ...

(large snow flat) - widespread in India,

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

, and maritime Southeast Asia * '' Tagiades hovia'' Swinhoe, 1904 * '' Tagiades hybridus'' Devyatkin, 2001 - central Vietnam * '' Tagiades inconspicua'' Rothschild, 1915 * '' Tagiades insularis'' Mabille, 1876 - Madagascar * '' Tagiades janetta'' Butler, 1870 * '' Tagiades japetus'' (Stoll, 781 (pied flat or common snow flat) - widespread in India, Indochina, maritime Southeast Asia, and north-eastern Australia * '' Tagiades kina'' Evans, 1934 * '' Tagiades korela'' Mabille, 1891 * '' Tagiades lavata'' Butler, 879/small> - southern Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and the

Natuna Islands Natuna Regency is an islands regency located in the northernmost part of the Province of Riau Islands, Indonesia. It contains at least 154 islands, of which 127 of them are reported as uninhabited. This archipelago, with a land area of 1,978.4 ...

* '' Tagiades litigiosa'' Möschler, 1878 (water snow flat) - Sri Lanka, southern India,

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, the Himalayas, and Indochina * '' Tagiades martinus'' Plötz, 1884 * '' Tagiades menaka'' (Moore,

(dark edged snow flat or spotted snow flat) - Himalayas (from

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

to Assam), Indochina, and Hainan * '' Tagiades neira'' Plötz, 1885 * '' Tagiades nestus'' (C. Felder, 1860) (Papuan snow flat) - Papua New Guinea, the Duke of York Island, and northern Australia * '' Tagiades obscurus'' Mabille, 1876 * '' Tagiades parra'' Fruhstorfer, 1910 - Indochina and maritime Southeast Asia * '' Tagiades presbyter'' Butler, 1882 * '' Tagiades ravi'' (Moore,

* '' Tagiades sambavana'' Elwes and Edwards, 1897 * '' Tagiades samborana'' Grose-Smith, 1891 - Madagascar * '' Tagiades sem'' Mabille, 1883 * '' Tagiades sheba'' Evans, 1934 * '' Tagiades silvia'' Evans, 1934 * '' Tagiades titus'' Plötz, 1884 * '' Tagiades tethys'' (Ménétries, 1857) - eastern Asia including Japan, Taiwan and Korea * '' Tagiades toba'' de Nicéville,

896 __NOTOC__ Year 896 ( DCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February – King Arnulf of Carinthia invades Italy at the head of an East Frankish expeditionary army. He storms ...

/small> - Assam to maritime Southeast Asia * '' Tagiades trebellius'' (Hopffer, 1874) - Japan, the Philippines, and

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

and the surrounding islands * '' Tagiades tubulus'' Fruhstorfer, 1910 * '' Tagiades ultra'' Evans, 1932 - Indochina, maritime Southeast Asia, to

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

in the Philippines * '' Tagiades waterstradti'' Elwes & Edwards, 1897 - maritime Southeast Asia

Gallery

File:TagiadesLitigiosa1.jpg, '' Tagiades litigiosa'' from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

File:Open wing of Tagiades japetus (Common Snow Flat) butterfly.jpg, '' Tagiades japetus ravi'' from India File:Tagiades japetus (Mindanao, Philippines) 2.jpg, '' Tagiades japetus titus'' from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

File:Tagiades_flesus_from_Ilanda_Wilds,_Amanzimtoti,_South_Africa_2.jpg, '' Tagiades flesus'' from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

References

External links

Tagiades at funet
Tagiadini Hesperiidae genera Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Pyrginae-stub