Common/Ceylon Snow Flat
Narenderpur near Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Subfamily:	Pyrginae
Genus:	Tagiades
Species:	T. japetus
Binomial name
Tagiades japetus (Stoll, 1782)
Synonyms
Tagiades jepetus (Stoll, [1781]) Papilio japetus Stoll, [1781] Tagiades janetta Butler, 1870 Tagiades clericus Butler, 1882 Tagiades kowaia Plötz, 1885 Tagiades gamelia Miskin, 1889 Tagiades australensis Mabille, 1891 Tagiades tindalii Ribbe, 1899 Tagiades bubasa Swinhoe, 1904 Tagiades hovia Swinhoe, 1904 Tagiades louisa Swinhoe, 1907 Tagiades fergussonius Fruhstorfer, 1910 Tagiades inconspicua Rothschild, 1915 Tagiades vulcania Evans, 1934 Hesperia atticus Fabricius, 1793 Tagiades utanus Plötz, 1885 Tagiades yotissa Fruhstorfer, 1910 Tagiades rajaghra Fruhstorfer, 1910 Pterygospidea japetus ravi Moore, [1866] Tagiades lugens Mabille, 1883 Tagiades khasiana Moore, 1884 Tagiades epicharmus Fruhstorfer, 1910 Tagiades obscurus Mabille, 1876 Tagiades distans Moore, [1881]

Tagiades japetus, commonly known as the Pied Flat, is a skipper butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found in South-East Asia and Australia (see subspecies section).

The wingspan is about 40 mm.

The larvae feed on Dioscorea transversa. During the day, it lives under a triangular piece of leaf cut from its hostplant and folded over. At night, the larva emerges and feeds.

Subspecies

• Tagiades japetus japetus
• Tagiades japetus atticus (Fabricius, 1793) - Common Snow Flat (Madhya Pradesh - Bengal, Dehra Dun - Assam, Burma)
• Tagiades japetus ravi (Moore, [1866]) (Bengal - Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam)
• Tagiades japetus obscurus Mabille, 1876 - Ceylon Snow Flat or Suffused Snow Flat (Ceylon, Nilgiris, Shevaroys, Palnis)
• Tagiades japetus janetta Butler, 1870 - Black And White Flat (northern Gulf and north-eastern coast of Queensland, Aru Islands, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands)