the tawny-edged skipper butterfly
in your garden
polites themistocles
The Tawny-edged Skipper butterfly is in the Lepidoptera family (butterflies and moths). Skippers were once thought to be a third category that was a bit of both – butterfly and moth. Experts now agree that Skippers are butterflies. They are different from most butterflies in that they have large heads and moth-like, stout, fuzzy bodies making them more effective pollinators than most butterflies. They are small and dart about quickly when they fly, hence their name ‘Skippers’.
The Tawny-edged Skipper Caterpillar Host Plant(s)
The host plants for Skippers are either grasses or legumes. The Tawny-edged Skipper caterpillars feed on a variety of grasses, such as panic grasses (Panicum spp.), bluegrasses (Poa spp.), crabgrasses (Digitaria spp.), and sedges (Carex spp.).
The Tawny-edged Skipper Butterfly Diet/Nectar Plants
These skippers take nectar from a wide variety of flowering plants. Some of the flowers that it is attracted to are: milkweed (Asclepias spp.), joe pyes (Eutrochium spp.), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), gayfeather (Liatris spp.), daisies (Erigeron spp.), asters
(Aster spp.), and goldenrods (Solidago spp.). They also drink from mud puddles, river edges, and lakeshores.
Do you have a Monarch butterfly garden?
If so, you will have the nectar plants that Tawny-edged Skipper butterflies need; add native grasses for their larvae and you may find them in your garden.
The Tawny-edged Skipper Butterfly Description
The upper wing surfaces of the forewings are brown with an orange patch on the leading edge. The females’ wings are darker with a smaller orange patch and a few white-orange spots. The hind wing is orange-brown to dark brown. The males’ hind wing has a black scent patch, called a stigma that attracts females.
Broods/Flight: In their northern range, the Tawny-edged Skipper has one brood per year, but in the southern range there can be two to three broods. In the north and west, they fly from June to August. In the east, they fly from May to August, and in the south, they fly from May to October or November.
Wingspan: 1.9 2.5 cm (.75 – 1 in)
The Tawny-edged Skipper Butterfly Range
The Tawny-edged Skipper has the widest range of all the meadow skippers. In Canada, it ranges from southern British Columbia, and east throughout southern Canada to the Maritimes, excluding Newfoundland and Labrador.
*many species of Skippers range in Newfoundland and Labrador, such as the Common Branded Skipper (Hesperia comma). The Tawny-edged and the Branded Skipper have the same host plants.
In the US, it ranges from Washington State to Northern California and then south to Arizona. It ranges through the eastern United States and as far south as central Florida.
The Tawny-edged Skipper Butterfly Habitat
This little butterfly can be found in grassy fields, meadows, roadsides, and gardens. It prefers damp to moist conditions.
The Tawny-edged Skipper Butterfly Eggs
Tawny-edged females lay their pale green, dome-shaped eggs singly on the undersides of leaves of flowering plants next to their host grasses. The eggs take approximately nine days to hatch.
The Tawny-edged Skipper Caterpillar
The caterpillar is variable in colour. Its body can be yellowish-green, or green to brown. Its head is large and black. They feed on grasses and build nests out of live and dead grass blades by tying them together with their silk. When they are half-grown in their third instar, they will sometimes enter diapause and overwinter as a larva, however, most Tawny-edged Skippers reach full maturity and enter the chrysalis stage to overwinter.
The Tawny-edged Skipper Chrysalis
When the caterpillar is fully grown it builds a strong nest on the ground or at the base of grasses, to pupate inside. The chrysalis is powdery white with green wing cases. If fall is approaching at this stage, the Skipper will overwinter as a chrysalis.
Overwintering: usually as a chrysalis, sometimes as a caterpillar.
Other Skipper butterflies
There are many species of Skipper butterflies. Some Skippers that are common to my region are: Least Skipper, Long Dash Skipper, Peck’s Skipper, Hobomok Skipper and Dun Skipper.
Skippers are so quick that it can be difficult getting a clear photo of them. This Skipper is not not a Tawny-edged Skipper, I believe it’s a Hobomok Skipper.
Possibly a Long Dash Skipper (Polites mystic) on Canada Anemone (Anemone Canadensis).
Leave the Leaves
Reducing your lawn, growing more native plants and leaving the leaves in your garden are crucial things to do in a wildlife/butterfly garden. Many different species of insects that shelter, develop and overwinter in leaves and leaf litter. Having leaf litter and plants beneath your trees also provides a soft landing and safe refuge for any chrysalis or caterpillars that become detached from branches or stems.
Shelter
The Tawny-edged Skipper butterfly needs shelter areas during the summer to hide from predators and protect it in bad weather. Shrubs, preferably native, and brush-piles are great shelters for butterflies.
Attracting Other Butterflies To Your Garden
Many other species of butterflies share the same nectar plants as the American Lady butterfly. By adding their particular host plants you can attract them to your garden. Some of these butterflies profiled on this blog are:
A Butterfly Garden – is a pollinator/wildlife garden. Never use herbicides or pesticides anywhere near a butterfly garden.
Look but do not Touch – please do not buy butterfly kits or chrysalis’ from commercial breeders or home rear butterflies. This is cruel to butterflies, can create unfit populations and spread diseases to the wild species.
Links to find out more about plants native to your area:
https://cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/encyclopedias/native-plant-encyclopedia
https://www.wildflower.org
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