Skippers (Hesperiidae)

Spreadwing skippers

s

The Skippers (Hesperiidae) are a subset of the butterflies. They tend to be smaller, more subdued in color pattern (orange, browns, and blacks), to have stockier bodies, and shorter, more triangular wings (which gives them terrifically fast flight; birds don't even try to catch them). Many are so similar to each other they offer real identification problems. They are like shorebirds to bird watchers: When you are a beginner, you dread them; with more experience you begin to love them for the challenge.

Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)

They come in two groups: the Spreadwing Skippers, as here, which land with their wings out flat, or straight up over their backs. And the Grass Skippers, which hold their wings differently, and will be dealt with in a separate section. In general, the spreadwing skippers are larger and bulkier than the grass skippers. This one here is the Silver-spotted Skipper, one of the commonest spreadwing skippers, though you seldom see it from this aspect.

Usually you see the Silver-spotted Skipper with its wings closed, when the mark on the underside of its hind wing makes its name obvious.

Here is the typical shape for a skipper caterpillar, featuring a bag-like body and a thin neck followed by a bulbous head. The two yellow pretending eyes mark this as the caterpillar of the Silver-spotted Skipper, usually to be found rolled up inside a leaf on a legume.

Hoary Edge (Achalarus lyciades)

This is the Hoary Edge. From above it looks similar to the Silver-spotted.

But from below, instead of the silver spot being centered on the hind wing, it is on the trailing edge.

Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus)

Here is a very rare (in Arkansas) spreadwing, the Long-tailed Skipper. Its name is just as obvious as the first two skippers, and the long tails and greenish-blue body make it unmistakable.

The species is from the Gulf States. We have the good luck, way up here in Jonesboro, to see one in our garden every few years, but most Arkansas butterfliers tell us they have only seen them in the state once if at all.

Footnote: In 2012 the whole state was flooded with Long-tailed Skippers, everyone saw one, and we had as many as five at once in our garden.

Golden Banded-Skipper (Autochdon cellus)

The Golden Banded- Skipper, the size and shape of a Silver-spotted Skipper, can be found in wet areas with hog peanuts, the larval food plant. It's always special to find one.

Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades)

Next comes a threesome of Cloudywings, and they can be tricky to separate. The trick is to pay attention to every field mark. This one is the Northern Cloudywing. The white spots on the plain brown body are usually restricted in size. This is as large as they get. There is a white line on the back of the eye, but not continuing all the way around. Of the four subapical spots (on the leading edge of the wing, a little way before the tip), the fourth spot is displaced outward.

If you can see the head from below, the face is dingy gray or brown, and this is diagnostic for the Northern Cloudywing (the other two species have white faces). Note the short streak of white behind the eye.

Southern Cloudywing (Thorybes bethyllus)

The Southern Cloudywing, on the other hand, has big bold white spots in a straight line. The two large spots in the center of the wing are nearly touching. The bottom spot of the four subapical spots is not displaced outward.

Additionally, the Southern Cloudywing has white on the top of the antennal clubs right at the bend, a white outline all the way around the eyes, and, differing most obviously from the Northern Cloudywing, a white face.

Confused Cloudywing (Thorybes confusis)

Now it gets tricky. The third species is the well named Confused Cloudywing. It sometimes has reduced spotting, like the Northern, or, as here, bold spotting like the Southern. But notice here: unlike the Northern, it has a white line all the way around the eyes. Unlike the Southern, it has no white spot on top of the antenna. Also note, the two large spots in the center of the wing are some distance apart from each other. The subapical spots don't come down in a more or less straight line, as with the Southern, nor is the bottom spot displaced completely outward, but it is in some position midway between the extremes.

On this pair of Confused Cloudywings you can see another feature: the white faces, which immediately separates them from Northern Cloudywing. The upper of the pair is angled in such a way that we don't see the white line around the eye, but it is clear on the lower individual.

Here is a Northern with spots so reduced they are almost absent. But note the fourth subapical spot displaced outward.

Here is a Confused with marking very much like that Northern, but the white line appears to be continuing around the top of the eye, and the lowest subapical spot is halfway between being displaced or not. However this one is a difficult call, as is sometimes the case with these three species. Try to see the face when you get one like this, and that will decide it.

Outis Skipper (Cogia outis)

Now that we are alerted to the fact that this species exists in north-central Arkansas, people are finding it in more and more north-central counties. It may have been missed before because not many butterfliers travel these counties, or it may simply have been overlooked because it is so similar to the cloudywings (though it is in a different genus). It can in fact be identified by paying attention to the same suite of fieldmarks. First, when you get to one of those north-central counties, keep your eye peeled for a distinctly smaller cloudywing. Now look to see if it has a white streak along the top of the forewing tip. Then notice if, of the four subapical spots, the fourth spot is displaced some distance from the others.

Then notice that, although the spots on the wings are as small as those on a Northern Cloudywing, it has a white spot before the tip of the antenna, white all the way around the eye, and (though you can’t see it from this position) a white face--in other words, characters of a Southern Cloudywing. [These two pictures were taken in Baxter Co. by Herschel Raney and appear here by courtesy.]

Hayhurst's Scallopwing (Staphylus hayhurstii)

This is the tiny little Hayhurst's Scallopwing. It almost invariably lands absolutely flat, and is about the size and shape of half of a postage stamp. In good light it is covered with flecks of gold or white. Note the scallops on the trailing edge of the hind wing.

The scallops on the hind wing, from which it gets its name, are even more obvious here.

Juvenal's Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis)

Keen butterfly watchers think the season has finally started in earnest when the first skippers appear. Almost invariably that first skipper is this one: Juvenal's Duskywing. There are several large dark duskywings, and they can be very difficult to identify. Most often it involves scrutinizing the four subapical white spots (just before the outside corner of the forewing), the cell-end spot (the single spot just a little way towards the body from the subapical spots), and the marking on the hind wings. Luckily this Juvenal's male is easy to identify: his front wings are covered with tiny silvery-white hairs. Note the fold along the front edge of the forewing: That tells you that this is a male duskywing. Only the male Juvenal’s is so silvery.

This is the Juvenal's Duskywing female (note the absence of the fold on the forewing), which will be an easier model to study the various spots on. Duskywing females have much bolder spotting than the males. About midway along the leading edge of the forewing a black blaze comes down, and in the middle of that is the pale cell-end spot. It is usually fairly prominent in Juvenal's Duskywing. Now go to the subapical four spots: They are stacked pretty much straight up and down, but the topmost is much smaller than the others, and located inward. This is fairly consistent in Juvenal's (go back and look at the preceding picture again). The hindwing marking is wavy, alternating lines of small dark spots, and small light spots.

If any doubt exists that you are looking at a Juvenal's, try to get a glimpse of the underside. Juvenal's almost always has two obvious close-together white spots on the underwing which are diagnostic.

Horace's Duskywing (Erynnis horatius)

A little later than Juvenal's, Horace's Duskywing arrives, and now you have to separate these two from each other. Horace's, unlike Juvenal's, has the back half of the eye outlined in white, which is usually quite evident. The male does not have the silver overscaling on the front wing, so looks much darker. It similarly has a strong cell-end spot, but does not have a noticeably smaller top subapical spot which is displaced inward, and instead has all four spots bolder and blockier, and more or less in a straight line. The hindwing marking is generally a single line of larger round black spots around the margin. Juvenal's appears in early spring, and is soon gone (which simplifies things). Horace's persists throughout the summer.

This is the female Horace's. Note again the blockier, more equal-sized subapical spots, the line of round black spots on the hindwing, the white outline to the back of the eyes, which Juvenal's does not have.

Juvenal's and Horace's Duskywing caterpillars both feed on oak and look just alike. They usually live inside a folded leaf. This one has snuck out for a little snack.

Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae)

This is Wild Indigo Duskywing. Once upon a time considered something of a rarity, now it is rather common. It features, generally, no, or a reduced, cell-end spot. In fact, the entire inner half of fore- and hind wings tends to be unmarked black. The subapical spots are diminished in size and often follow a sort of zigzag down to the bottom spot which is displaced outwards. Just inward from the subapical spots there is a slightly paler brown patch. Just outward from them are sharp black points. There is almost no marking on the hindwing except for a few small white spots. There is white behind the eyes.

The Wild Indigo Duskywing female. Note the row of sharp black points just outside the subapical spots.

Zarucco Duskywing (Erynnis zarucco)

There is a small disjunct population of this species in southeast Oklahoma just a few miles from the Arkansas border, from which we presume the occasional straggler enters our state. This is an all-dark butterfly. The forewing is mostly black (with no cell-end spot), but, about two-thirds of the way out, that black is interrupted by a broad pale brown band which runs more or less from the front of the wing to the back. The outer half of the wing then returns to black. The fourth of the subapical spots is displaced far outward. [This picture was taken by Dave Patten and appears here by courtesy.]

Mottled Duskywing (Erynnis martialis)

The Mottled Duskywing can be recognized by its heavy marking, especially the strong upper curving line on the hind wings, and often by at least a few spots of blue-gray near the outer edges of the forewing. The abdomen is noticeably banded. The cell-end spot is generally missing. This species is found in the western side of the state.

Funereal Duskywing (Erynnis funeralis)

This one anyway is easy: A black duskywing with a bright white hindwing fringe will be Funereal Duskywing. There is a pale brown patch just before the pre-apical spots.

Sleepy Duskywing (Erynnis brizo)

Also easy to identify is another common early arriving dusky, the Sleepy Duskywing. It has no cell-end or subapical spots, indeed, no spots at all. Instead it has a gray chain-like pattern on the forewing.

Look at the pattern on these mating Sleepy Duskywings. Spreadwing Skippers are easy to overlook, but they often have really handsome colors and markings.

Dreamy Duskywing (Erinnis icelus)

It's always special to find the Dreamy Duskywing, the scarcer cousin of the Sleepy Duskywing. It is readily separable from the Sleepy by the prominent silver spot just inside the chain marking. Also, it comes out two or three weeks later in the spring, so there is little or no overlap.

Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis)

The Common Checkered Skipper is a small pretty brown-and-white skipper with a busy pattern.

Note in the middle of the forewing, near the leading edge, is a large squarish white spot. Outside that square on either wing there is nothing but a few smaller flecks of white. Now look at the next picture.

Tropical Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus oileus)

This is the very much rarer Tropical Checkered-Skipper. If you look at that large squarish spot (here more like an hourglass), on the outside of it is another rather large squarish spot (missing in the Common Checkered-Skipper). That spot identifies the Tropical, another of the rarities that occasionally come up from the southwest corner of the state. We ourselves have not seen it in Arkansas, and took this picture in Texas.  Craig Marks [Butterflies of Louisiana] suggests an easier way to tell the two species apart: the outer checkered fringes of the Common are mainly white, whereas those of the Tropical are mainly dark.) Look at this picture, and then at the previous, and see if that works for you.

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus)

The small, but very handsome, Common Sootywing. The sure way to identify this little beauty is to notice the cluster of white spots on top of the head.

This section, with 20 species, is essentially complete for the state of Arkansas.