Platylesches picanini, the banded hopper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, south-western Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, northern Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa (the Limpopo Province and Mpumalanga).[2] The habitat consists of forests, riparian vegetation along river courses, woodland, dry forests and Guinea savanna.
| Banded hopper | |
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| b, c | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hesperiidae |
| Genus: | Platylesches |
| Species: | P. picanini
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| Binomial name | |
| Platylesches picanini | |
| Synonyms | |
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The wingspan is 30–40 mm.[3] These skippers have brown on the uppersides with small white spots on the forewings and small yellow median dashes on the hindwings. The underside wings are black with broad white or yellow median bands, as suggested by the common name.[3] Flight period is from January to May and June to August, with two broods.[3] Adults have been recorded feeding from flowers, including those of Eupatorium species and teak.
References
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- ^ Platylesches Archived 2012-04-16 at the Wayback Machine at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: Hesperiidae - Subfamily Hesperiinae". Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
- ^ a b c Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.