Gegenes niso

Common Hottentot skipper
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Gegenes
Species:	G. niso
Binomial name
Gegenes niso (Linnaeus, 1764)
Synonyms
Papilio niso Linnaeus, 1764 Hesperia letterstedti Wallengren, 1857 Pamphila indica Mabille, 1883 Gegenes hottentota ocra Evans, 1937 Thymelicus brevicornis Plötz, 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.

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.

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

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