Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly Images

Silver-spotted Skipper Butterfly Images, Facts and Information:

Epargyreus clarus

• Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies are medium-sized butterflies with brown wings, orange bands on the forewings, and distinctive silver spots on the underside of their hindwings. They have long tongues and large black eyes.
• Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies are found throughout most of the United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. They inhabit disturbed open woods, forest edges, stream edges, and areas where nectar plants are abundant.
• These butterflies feed on nectar from a variety of flowers, preferring blue, purple, pink, red, and occasionally white flowers. They also consume mud and insect frass for nutrients.
• Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies lay single green eggs with red tops on host plants, primarily in the legume family. The larvae, which have a yellowish-green body and a large brownish head with prominent red-orange eyespots, live in leaf shelters they construct for protection. These shelters are made by folding and silking leaf margins together.
• The Silver-spotted Skipper has one to two generations per summer, with adults active during the warmer months. They overwinter as larvae in their leaf shelters and emerge as butterflies in late spring.
• Silver-spotted Skippers are often referred to as “nectar-thieves” because they do not pollinate the flowers they feed on. They are solitary and not typically seen in groups.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly photos.