Family:Hesperiidae
Family
Description:
Alternate Common Name: Yellowpatch Skipper.
Note: Some authors refer to this species as Polites coras.
Range:
This species ranges across Canada from eastern British Columbia to Nova Scotia,
and across the U.S. from eastern Washington and Oregon to the east coast, extending
south as far as central Colorado, northern Arkansas, and northern Georgia. It
occurs in Idaho in both the panhandle
and central regions of the state.
Habitat:
It can be found in open, grassy places such as meadows, fields,
prairies, and pastures.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars feed on the leaves of a variety of grasses (Family Poaceae).
Adult: Butterflies drink flower nectar.
Ecology:
There are generally two generations of caterpillars each summer
in most of its range, but there may be only one in the north or at high elevations.
Caterpillars construct nests
from leaves and silk.
Caterpillars and pupae
may overwinter in a physiological state called diapause. Adults generally fly either from July to
August (one generation) or from May to June and from August to September (two
generations). The butterflies when at rest are found with their forewings partially
open and their hindwings fully open.
Reproduction:
Males perch
to wait for receptive females. Females lay green eggs singly on grasses, and
occasionally on other plants.
Conservation:
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Global Rank: | G5
populations are widespread, abundant, and secure. |
Opler, P. A., H. Pavulaan, and R. E. Stanford. 1995. Butterflies of North America. Jamestown, North Dakota, USA: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/bflyusa.htm (Version 05Nov98).
Opler, P. A. and A. B.Wright. 1999. A Field Guide to the Western Butterflies. Second Edition. Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, New York, USA, 540 pp.
Pyle, R. M. 1981. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, New York, USA, 924 pp.
Scott, J. A. 1986. The Butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, USA, 583 pp.
Stanford, R. E. and P. A. Opler. 1993. Atlas of Western U.S.A. Butterflies (Including Adjacent Parts of Canada and Mexico). Published by authors, Denver, Colorado, USA, 275 pp.