Lots of Skippers

9/10/2016

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

Comments