http://www.ck12.org Chapter 14. Understanding Biodiversity: Animals: Invertebrates
14.3 Hylephila phyleus: Fiery Skipper
Common Name
- Fiery Skipper
Description
Hylephila phyleusis a fast darting butterfly. They are about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. TheHylephila phyleusfemales
have a larger wingspan than the males. The males are orange and yellow with black spots. The females are dark
brown with orange and yellow spots. The caterpillars are a pink and green color, and the head is black.Hylephila
phyleusand all other skippers can hold their wings in a triangle shape.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Family: Hesperiidae
- Genus:Hylephila
- Species:H. phyleus
Habitat
TheHylephila phyleuslives in North America, Central America, and South America in open grassy spaces. The
type of weather they like is warm or tropical.Hylephila phyleusare common around residential lawns.
Cell Biology
Eukaryotes include plants, animals and fungi. The Hylephila phyleus has eukaryotic cells, just like all other animals
do. The eukaryotic cell has a nucleus and many other organelles.
The Hylephila phyleus cells divide in two ways. The cells go through mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis is a process in
which a cell divides into two and makes two new cells, each with complete chromosomes from the parent. Meiosis
is when a cell divides to makes two new cells that have half of the chromosomes of each parent.
Evolution
The first important animal trait to evolve was multicellularity. Multicellular organisms are organisms that consist of
more than one cell. Multiple cells could do different jobs. Then animals evolved tissues and symmetry. Later the
head, segmented body, and digestive system developed.