Orange Palm Dart	Banded Demon	Yellow Palm Dart

Skippers belong to the family Hesperiidae and are only distantly related to all other butterflies. In many ways they resemble moths rather than proper butterflies. They have a thick body like moths, rather than a thin delicate one like butterflies. Butterflies generally sit with their wings held above their bodies, whereas moths usually spread them out horizontally. Skippers seem unsure what to do! Sometimes they sit like a butterfly, but at other times they hold their front wings almost upright, but spread their hind wings out like moths. If you look closely at one you will see that although they have antennae with a club at the end, like butterflies; this club has a hook at the tip, a feature unique to skippers.

They are also seldom seen, even though over a quarter of all butterfly species in Australia are skippers. Probably the main reason is that they are often small, are usually coloured dull browns and orange, and have a rapid, jerky, skipping flight.