FAMILY MEGATHYMIDAE 



Megathymidae Comstock, Man. of Insects, p. 365 (1895); Dyar, Bull. 52, U. S. 



Nat. Mus., 46 (1902). 

 Megathyminae Holland, Butt. Book, p. 368 (1899) ; Mabille, Gen. Insect. Fam, 



Heap., 184 (1904) ; Dyar, Jour. N. Y. Ent. Soc, XIII, 141 (1905). 



For a considerable time the systematic position of this family 

 was very doubtful. Earlier writers, with the exception of Walker, 

 placed it among the "skippers" or Hesperiidae; later writers such as 

 Scudder, Grote, Butler and Druce considered it more closely allied 

 to the Heterocera, and especially to the Castniidae. Riley (Tr. St. 

 Louis Acad. Sci., Ill, 334) was the first to clearly prove that from a 

 morphological standpoint its affinities were entirely Hesperian; for 

 the three species then known he proposed the tribal name of 

 Castiiioides. Comstock in 1895, raising the skippers to superfamily 

 rank under the name of Hespcriina, divided this superfamily into the 

 Megathymidae and Hesperiidae, separating the two families as fol- 

 lows: 



"A. Head of moderate size ; club of antennae large, neither drawn out at the 

 tip nor recurved. Large skippers with wing expanse of two inches or 

 more Megathymidae. 



AA. Head very large ; club of antennae usually drawn out at the tip and with 

 a distinct recurved apical crook. In a few forms the crook of the an- 

 tennae is wanting; such forms can be distinguished from the Meg- 

 athymidae by their smaller size, the wing expanse being less than one and 

 one-fourth inches Hesperiidae." 



Mabille in the Genera Insectorum gives only family rank to the 

 "skippers," separating them into 5 subfamilies, of which the Mega- 

 thyminae forms one. This subfamily he defines (1. c. p. 184) as 

 follows : 



"Antennae with rigid stalk and strong, claviform club swelling from the 

 base to apex, obscurely hooked. Vein 5 of the primaries bent downwards at 

 the base and closer to 4 than to 6. Veins 2 and 3 towards the middle of the 

 cell, the former arising below the middle, the latter a little beyond same. On 

 the secondaries 2 and 3 approximate and placed at the end of the cell. Body 

 very long, stout, much exceeding the hind wings. Posterior tibiae without 

 spurs." 



