Category: Pyrgus_communis

Found a Checkerspot Skipper Egg

7/20/2017

Today we found a common checkerspot skipper (Pyrgus communis) egg on mallow (Malva) at Albany Hill (Albany, California).

As always, during the late summer common checkerspot skippers (Pyrgus communis) become common on mallows (Malva). It seems it is getting close and they are just starting to trickle in.

Today we found a single egg on mallow at Albany Hill. The egg is a tiny white colored dome shaped thing. Probably fresh. It was located on the underside of a leaf near the edge which is pretty typical based on last year's collections. There are actually lots of mallows growing among dead grasses and other little weeds, but there only seemed to be one plant -- a large and mature one -- that was getting all the attention because we also found some other stuff on it. We also saw an adult flying about nearby these mallows which was probably a female.

Authors
Brian Liang

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Various Butterfly Sightings at Albany Hill

6/20/2017

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We found mating umber skippers (Poanes melane), common checkerspot skippers (Pyrgus communis) and gray hairstreaks (Strymon melinus) at Albany Hill (Albany, California).

Once it hits summertime, we get all kinds of these common little prairie butterflies. Umber skippers (Poanes melane) are the most common skipper and gray hairstreaks (Strymon melinus) are the most common hairstreaks and we have been seeing many of them at Albany Hill these days. In fact, we witnessed two umber skippers in copula, the only ever natural butterfly pairing we have ever observed besides monarchs (Danaus plexippus). They must male must have been "done" by the time we got there because they separately promptly after taking the photograph.

We also spotted some common checkerspot skippers (Pyrgus communis) two days ago, which, despite its name isn't actually that common here. Like the gray hairstreaks, it is a mallow (Malva) feeder which is where we discovered them. They were quite likely females looking to oviposit, but from a brief glance we couldn't find any eggs. Later in the season (August to September), however, they should be very easy to find. Alas, we would be in Ithaca by then.

Authors
Brian Liang

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P. communis Rearing Notes (10/24/16-11/1/16)

11/1/2016

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The fifth installment of rearing notes for wild caught Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis) that we found as eggs or caterpillars on wild, introduced mallow (Malva).

Rearing notes 10/24/16-11/1/16:

11/1:

It has found its way into the cocoon of the other one. . .

10/31:

Surprise, surprise. . . it is already ready to pupate; it is quite a bit undersized compared to the others and still not very green. . .

10/30:

10/29:

Just starting to get a bit of green, but still not even close to what we would expect; this may just be natural variation within the species?

10/28:

The chrysalis is beginning to tan
The fifth instar is still not very green at all

10/27:

The fifth instar has pupated

10/26:

The fifth instar has made a loose cocoon to pupate in
The fourth instar has molted to fifth and is still extremely pale in color and not a dark green like the rest of the caterpillars of this species we have raised thus far

10/25:

The fifth instar is becoming increasingly pink and making thick silk

10/24:

Fourth instar is in apolysis for fifth
The fifth instar is ready to pupate

- Brian

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P. communis Rearing Notes (10/16/16-10/23/16)

10/23/2016

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The fourth installment of rearing notes for wild caught Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis) that we found as eggs or caterpillars on wild, introduced mallow (Malva).

Rearing notes 10/16/16-10/23/16:

10/23:

The fourth instar is in apolysis for fifth

10/22:

The fifth instar has started turning pink

10/21:

The fifth instar looks just about done growing; the younger one is still very yellow

10/19:

10/18:

Fourth instar has molted to fifth

10/17:

The younger of the two remaining caterpillars is very yellowish and not green like the other three we have reared

10/16:

The fifth instar has pupated inside its cocoon
The fourth instar is in apolysis for fifth

- Brian

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P. communis Rearing Notes (10/8/16-10/15/16)

10/15/2016

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The third installment of rearing notes for wild caught Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis) that we found as eggs or caterpillars on wild, introduced mallow (Malva).

Rearing notes 10/8/16-10/15/16:

10/15:

The chrysalis eclosed today!

10/14:

Unlike the last one which was probably had too many disturbances, this fourth instar is building a loose little cocoon
The chrysalis is becoming increasingly pharate; the wing pattern is now distinguishable

10/13:

Getting pinker

10/12:

The chrysalis is becoming pharate

10/11:

The fourth? instar is beginning to become pink and will pupate soon
The third instar molted to fourth instar

10/10:

The third instar is in apolysis for fourth
The second instar has turned a strange orangish color...

10/9:

It likes to cut a piece of the leaf off to use as part of its nest (left)

10/8:

It looks like this is the final instar for what we believedt was the fourth instar; we might have missed an instar somewhere

- Brian

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P. communis Rearing Notes (9/30/16-10/7/16)

10/7/2016

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The second installment of rearing notes for wild caught Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis) that we found as eggs or caterpillars on wild, introduced mallow (Malva).

Rearing notes 9/30/16-10/7/16:

10/7:

10/6:

10/5:

Fifth instar has grown quite large

10/4:

10/3:

Molted to fifth instar; one of the two remaining second instars is in apolysis for third

10/2:

Still in apolysis

10/1:

The chrysalis has further tanned and is becoming brown
Fourth instar in apolysis for fifth

9/30:

The prepupae pupated; initially it was green with a pink back but it looks like it is turning brown now

- Brian

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P. communis Rearing Notes (9/22/16-9/29/16)

9/29/2016

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The second installment of rearing notes for wild caught Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis) that we found as eggs or caterpillars on wild, introduced mallow (Malva).

Rearing notes 9/22/16-9/29/16:

9/29:

Has developed into a prepupae

9/28:

The fifth instar is becoming even pinker
Second instar is growing fast

9/27:

The fifth instar has stopped eating and has taken on a slightly pinkish undertone; it will soon become a prepupae

9/26:

The other second instar in apolysis died

9/25:

The fifth instar has grown a ton since it was so hot; its pulse is extremely clear, it's unsettling!
One of the second instars molted to third
One hatched

9/24:

Both second instars in apolysis for third

9/23:

Four hatched; pharate egg shown in last row
The fifth instar is starting to turn greenish and is growing very fast

9/22:

- Brian

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P. communis Rearing Notes (9/14/16-9/21/16)

9/21/2016

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The first installment of rearing notes for wild caught Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis) that we found as eggs or caterpillars on wild, introduced mallow (Malva).

Rearing notes 9/14/16-9/21/16:

9/21:

Fourth instar molted to fifth and its jaws are huge now, typical of most skippers

9/20:

Fourth instar still in apolysis
One of the newborns molted to second; the other is in apolysis for second

9/19:

The fourth instar is in apolysis for fifth

9/18:

The fourth instar has made a very tight silk nest; it has grown quite large and its pulse is visible due to its pale, translucent skin

9/17:

The newborn from yesterday drowned in the condensation but another one hatched today (left)
Found a few eggs

9/16:

Both have made very loose silken nests
One hatched

9/15:

The third instar molted

9/14:

The second instar that we caught yesterday died
The third instar is in apolysis

- Brian

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Mystery Egg 2 Hatches: Common Checkered Skipper Confirmed

9/13/2016

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Our suspicions have been confirmed that the second type of egg we discovered on wild mallow (Malva) were laid by the Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis).

For the past few days, we have been finding many eggs on wild mallow (Malva) that we could not identify today. One of the eggs -- mystery egg 1 -- hatched into a Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) yesterday; it looked like a tiny and slightly hairy blob. The other eggs, mystery egg 2, although spherical and adorned with vertical ridges and look like typical skipper (Hesperiidae) eggs, were not definitively different from mystery egg 2. So even though we did conclude that we had two different kinds of eggs, we still needed to see a difference in the hatchlings to completely convince us.

Today a mystery egg 2 finally hatched into something that is distinctively skipper and not lycaenid. A huge (relatively), sort of detached dark colored head with a smooth, bag-like body. At this point, we can say almost for certain that is a Common Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus communis). If it weren't for the fact that we had encountered several of the adults (which we only identified as this species only after catching one of them) we would have never seriously considered that there would be their eggs on the mallow, but certainly do now. No other skipper that we know of in our region feeds on and has a preference for Malvaceae.

And to spice things up a bit further, we found two skipper caterpillars on the same mallow that we found the Common Checkered Skippers and the eggs later today. One was perhaps a second instar and the other at least third.

- Brian

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Lots of Skippers

9/10/2016

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Today we collected three common skippers on dry grasses: the Sandhill skipper (Polites sabuleti), the Umber skipper (Poanes melane), and the Common Checkerspot skipper (Pyrgus communis).

Unlike true butterflies (Papilionoidea), skippers (Hesperioidea) are often overlooked because of their small size and drab coloration, but they are a beauty in their own right. Here in Albany, the two most common urban skippers are the Sandhill skipper (Polites sabuleti) and the Umber skipper (Poanes melane). Both can be seen in a large portion of the year and are very abundant. Sandhill Skipper males love to perch in dry grasses; everywhere they will shoot out like darts like grasshoppers if you walk across the grass. We caught three of dozens among dry lawns while we were picking mallow (Malva), a weed that grows in this kind of habitat. Umber Skippers are commonly found in gardens, sucking from common garden flowers and we caught a female while it was sucking from a bush on the sidewalk.

Despite its name, the Common Checkerspot skipper (Pyrgus communis) is not that common in Albany but we caught one of two that were chasing each other (courting) near mallow which turned out to be the female.

Since the adult skippers are so common, it is strange that we have never really reared any caterpillars except for the Mournful Duskywing (Erynnis tristis) currently which is ironic since we have actually never really witnessed the adults of this species! The larvae of many skippers feed on weedy plants and the three species that we caught today are no exception. Both the Umber and Sandhill skippers feed on grasses while the Common Checkerspot feeds on plants in the mallow family (Malvaceae). We will admit that we have never thoroughly searched their host plants for eggs or caterpillars but we have tried. As of today, we think we might have actually found the eggs of the Common Checkerspot on mallow (Malva) but we aren't sure.

We don't know how easy it would be to get adult female skippers to lay eggs. But now that we've caught some it is time to give it a shot!

Umber Skipper (Poanes melane)

Common Checkerspot Skipper (Pyrgus communis)

Sandhill Skipper (Polites sabuleti)

- Brian

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