Shelter building in the Hesperiidae: a classification scheme for larval shelters

The majorfty of larvae fn the famfly Hesperffdae bufld and fnhabft shelters on or near the host plant. A revfew of hesperffd natural hfstory publfcatfons from all regfons, fn combfnatfon wfth extensfve ffeld observatfons on New World skfppers shows that larval shelters fall fnto at least ten separate categorfes. The functfons, plastfcfty, and ontogenetfc varfatfon of skfpper shelters are dfscussed. Terms useful fn shelter descrfptfon are deffned and a classfffcatfon system for shelter types fs suggested. A dfchotomous key to these types fs provfded.