Hesperia hegon (Scudder, 1863)

Hesperia hegon View in CoL and H. samoset ( Scudder, 1863)

The familiar “Pepper and Salt Skipper” was originally described as Hesperia hegon ( Scudder, 1863, sp. #77) ( Fig. 1) from a female specimen. Scudder had also described Hesperia samoset in the same paper (sp. #78) ( Fig. 2) from a male specimen. The name hegon thus takes precedence over samoset on the basis of line priority. Neither description was accompanied by illustrations. Scudder (1889) first illustrated H. samoset on plate 10, in Vol. 3 of The Butterflies of the Eastern United States and Canada with Special Reference to New England ( Figs. 3, 4). In that work, Scudder gave priority of the name samoset over hegon , likely due to samoset being the male specimen ( Fig. 3). The female is shown in Fig. 4, below. Scudder appears to have mistakenly reversed the sexes on his plate. Specimen No. 1 of plate 10 ( Fig. 4) is indicated as a female, yet has the characteristic wing shape and thin abdomen of the male. Conversely, specimen No. 3 of plate 10 ( Fig. 3) is indicated as a male, yet has the characteristic wing shape and thicker abdomen of the female. The hegon holotype is indicated in Fig. 5. A typical male from near the TL is indicated in Fig. 6.

Interestingly the original descriptions of both hegon and samoset indicate a dorsal and ventral ground color of “dark brown”. The specimen illustrated in Fig. 3 and imaged in Fig. 5, reflect this description. This was confirmed by examining a series of hegon in the topotypical region of northern New England, from specimens in the NMNH collection and specimens in the collections of the present authors. Scudder (1889) gave a more detailed description of the adults, again stating: “Wings above rich dark brown” and “Beneath of the same brown as above”, while not mentioning any greyish or greenish scaling on the ventral hindwings which has been a popular description of hegon ’s ventral appearance. While the other described wing characters (spots, fringes, etc.) can apply to most individuals of all populations comprising the hegon complex, ventral ground color stands as the most definitive character, though there is considerable variation with the grey “peppering”. Genomic analysis of specimens in the topotypical region of northern New Hampshire establishes a baseline against which to compare additional populations from across eastern North America.