Skipper Butterflies of North America
Order Lepidoptera / Suborder Macrolepidoptera / Superfamily Hesperioidea
Live adult skipper butterflies photographed in the wild.
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Little Glassywing
Little Glassywing

Peck's Skipper - Polites peckius
Least Skipper - Ancyloxypha numitor


Wild Indigo Duskywing

Family Hesperiidae: Skipper Butterflies comprise nearly 3,000 species worldwide, 250 of which call North America home. Roughly one third of North American butterflies belong to this family. Skippers are named for their rapid, erratic flight. Skippers differ from the true butterflies in their proportionately larger bodies, smaller wings, and hooked antennae, among many other structural differences. The skipper family is further divided into subfamilies. Skippers can be the most difficult butterfly species to identify; their markings are maddeningly similar.

Fiery skipper shows off hooked antennae
All adult true skippers have six well developed legs. Their eggs are tiny, usually less than .1mm. Most skipper caterpillars are green and tapered, and the neck appears constricted. The caterpillars weave silk and leaves into a daytime shelter for protection. Most pupate in loosely woven cocoons. The chrysalises are often coated with a powder or bloom. Chrysalis and caterpillars may overwinter.

Skipper butterflies can be divided into five subfamilies:
  • Pyrginae, or spread-wing skippers. These butterflies bask with their wings spread open flat, although there are a few that sit with the wings folded over their back. The cloudy wings sit with their wings partly open. Most spreadwings are patterned in gray, black and white. Caterpillars feed on many different types of plants, especially legumes.
  • Grass Skippers, subfamily Hesperiinae constitute the largest grouping, and perhaps the most challenging for those seeking to identify specimens. They are smaller than the spread-wing skippers, and many are patterned with yellow, orange and black. These erratic flyers sit with their forewings and hind wings at different angles - I think the configuration resembles an F-15 Eagle fighter jet. Grass skipper larvae feed mostly on ... guess what? Yep. Grasses.
  • Giant Skippers, subfamily Megathyminae includes the largest skippers. These are rare butterflies, even where there host plants, the Agaves and Yuccas are common. They are very fast and powerful flyers.
  • Skipperlings, subfamily Heteropterinae includes only a handful of small species living in the north and west. They lack the narrow extension (apiculus) of the antenna club. Many skipperlings sit with the wings open flat. They are often lumped into the grass skipper family. Note: Some skippers are called skipperlings but do not actually belong to this subfamily.
  • Firetips, subfamily Pyrrhopyginae. Only one species of this mainly subtropical group inhabits North America: the Atraxes skipper.

Wild Indigo Duskywing
Wild Indigo Duskywing


Least Skipper takes nectar from ox-eye daisy

References

1. Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. 2006. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: NBII Mountain Prairie Information Node. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
 
              
 
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