Silver-spotted Skipper
Epargyreus clarus
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- A few weeks
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Temperate grassland
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Speed
- Status
- Common
About
The Silver-spotted Skipper is North America's largest skipper butterfly, recognizable by the bold diagonal band of pale gold spots across its dark-brown forewing and the gleaming silver patch on the underside of its hindwing. It feeds on nectar with its long proboscis and rests with its hindwings spread flat while its forewings are held upright.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
- 2.caterpillarA voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
- 3.chrysalisA chrysalis hangs sealed and still while the body remodels into a winged adult.
- 4.butterflyA winged adult with full scales and coloration, ready to fly and mate.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Genus
- Epargyreus
- Species
- Epargyreus clarus