In their physical characters and in their habits these small butterflies differ from all the others. All have a wide head, the antennae set wide apart, and at their bases are short bristles. The thorax is rather massive, like that of certain moths.
This is a very large family with hundreds of different species distributed around the world.
In Europe we have members of the two principal groups, the Pyrginae, which feed upon flowering plants and the Hesperiinae, which feed only upon grass.