Tagiades

Tagiades, commonly known as snow flats, is a genus of spread-winged skipper butterflies. It is the type genus of the tribe Tagiadini of the subfamily Pyrginae in the family Hesperiidae. It contains seventeen species; three are found in tropical Africa, while fourteen are found from India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, northeast Australia, to the Pacific Islands. They are primarily diurnal butterflies, and can usually be found in secondary forests at up to above sea level. They can sometimes be encountered in partially cleared or cultivated areas. They are fast flyers, flying at an average height of . They usually rest on the undersides of leaves. When disturbed they will fly away but will usually return to the preferred area, often to the same leaf. thumb|Tagiades litigiosa resting on the underside of a leaf

==Species== Tagiades atticus (Fabricius, 1793) Tagiades calligana Butler, [1879] – Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, Singapore, Borneo, Java, Nias, Belitung, and Bangka Island Tagiades ceylonica Evans, 1932 Tagiades cohaerens Mabille, 1914 – Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, the northwestern Himalayas, and possibly China Tagiades elegans Mabille, 1877 Tagiades flesus (Fabricius, 1781) (clouded forester) – Transkei to Zimbabwe and Botswana in Africa Tagiades gana (Moore, [1866]) (large snow flat) – widespread in India, Indochina, and maritime Southeast Asia Tagiades hovia Swinhoe, 1904 Tagiades hybridus Devyatkin, 2001 – central Vietnam Tagiades inconspicua Rothschild, 1915 Tagiades insularis Mabille, 1876 – Madagascar Tagiades janetta Butler, 1870 Tagiades japetus (Stoll, [1781]) (pied flat or common snow flat) – widespread in India, Indochina, maritime Southeast Asia, and north-eastern Australia Tagiades kina Evans, 1934 Tagiades korela Mabille, 1891 Tagiades lavata Butler, [1879] – southern Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and the Natuna Islands Tagiades litigiosa Möschler, 1878 (water snow flat) – Sri Lanka, southern India, Assam, the Himalayas, and Indochina Tagiades martinus Plötz, 1884 Tagiades menaka (Moore, [1866]) (dark edged snow flat or spotted snow flat) – Himalayas (from Kashmir to Assam), Indochina, and Hainan Tagiades neira Plötz, 1885 Tagiades nestus (C. Felder, 1860) (Papuan snow flat) – Papua New Guinea, the Duke of York Island, and northern Australia Tagiades obscurus Mabille, 1876 Tagiades parra Fruhstorfer, 1910 – Indochina and maritime Southeast Asia Tagiades presbyter Butler, 1882 Tagiades ravi (Moore, [1866]) Tagiades sambavana Elwes and Edwards, 1897 Tagiades samborana Grose-Smith, 1891 – Madagascar Tagiades sem Mabille, 1883 Tagiades sheba Evans, 1934 Tagiades silvia Evans, 1934 Tagiades titus Plötz, 1884 Tagiades tethys (Ménétries, 1857) – eastern Asia including Japan, Taiwan and Korea Tagiades toba de Nicéville, [1896] – Assam to maritime Southeast Asia Tagiades trebellius (Hopffer, 1874) – Japan, the Philippines, and Sulawesi and the surrounding islands Tagiades tubulus Fruhstorfer, 1910 Tagiades ultra Evans, 1932 – Indochina, maritime Southeast Asia, to Palawan in the Philippines Tagiades waterstradti Elwes & Edwards, 1897 – maritime Southeast Asia