![]() This entry was posted in Bug Month and tagged Butterflies, Butterfly of the week, Silver Spotted Skipper. These include lantana, everlasting pea, common milkweed, red clover, buttonbush, blazing star, and thistles. The silver-spotted skipper favors blue, red, pink, purple, and sometimes white and cream-colored flowers. The larvae feed on leaves of herbs, vines, shrubs, and trees in the pea family (Fabaceae) including false indigo, black locust, honey locust, American hogpeanut, butterfly pea, American wisteria, Chinese wisteria and other legumes.Īdults have long “tongues” and feed on nectar from a variety of flowers. Silver-spotted skipper caterpillar on false indigo. Young caterpillars live in a folded leaf shelter whereas older ones live in a nest of silked-together leaves. Like most skippers, silver-spotted skipper caterpillars live in leaf shelters. Their abdomen is yellow with darker crosswise stripes and orange prolegs. They have a reddish brown head with large yellow eye patches and a brown prothoracic shield. The caterpillars can be up to 2.0 inches long. Plant common milkweed, blazing star and thistles to attract more silver-spotted skippers to your garden. and southern Canada near roadsides, gardens, fields and woodland edges. The under-side of the wings is brown with a large white patch on each wing. The silver-spotted skipper is found in most of the continental U.S. The fringe of the wing is edged with white. The upper-side of the wings is brown with a row of yellow-gold spots on the forewing. The adult butterfly’s wing spread is 1.75 to 2.40 inches. They frequent edges of forests, swamps, brushy areas, and other open areas where nectar plants are found. The silver-spotted skipper caterpillar eats plants in the legume or Fabaceae family, especially the black locust, bush clover, and false indigo. In the West, it is more restricted to the mountains. The silver-spotted skipper is found in open woodlands and brushy areas. The silver-spotted skipper is found throughout most of the United States and southern Canada. Silver spotted skipper feeding on lantana in Eastern CT. Occasionally, it breeds on heathland, damp grassland, and dunes.The silver-spotted skipper, Epargyreus clarus has a large white spot on the underside of each hind wing, and is one of the largest, most widespread and most recognized skippers in our area. Adults have a jerky style of flight which is typical of many skippers. Three main types are used: woodland rides, glades, and clearings unimproved grassland, especially chalk downland but also on other calcareous soils including clays recently abandoned industrial sites such as disused mineral workings, spoil heaps, railway lines and even rubbish tips. erecta), Salad Burnet ( Sanguisorba minor), Bramble ( Rubus fruticosus), Dog-rose ( Rosa canina), and Wood Avens ( Geum urbanum). Listed on Section 7 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016Ī variety of plants from the Rosaceae family is used, mainly Agrimony ( Agrimonia eupatoria), Creeping Cinquefoil ( Potentilla reptans) and Wild Strawberry ( Fragaria vesca).Silver-spotted skippers (Epargyreus clarus) are a species found across the United States. Section 41 species of principal importance under the NERC Act in England They look very similar to the caterpillars of Zestos skippers. ![]() In Wales, it is restricted to the south coast and post-industrial sites in the northeast. The butterfly occurs across southern England, commonly in small colonies, and has declined in several regions. It can then be identified quite easily by the checkerboard pattern on its wings. Its rapid, buzzing flight can make it difficult to follow, but it stops regularly either to perch on a prominent twig or to feed on flowers such as Common Bird's-foot-trefoil or Bugle. The Grizzled Skipper is a characteristic spring butterfly of southern chalk downland and other sparsely vegetated habitats. Dingy Skipper similar in size but wings much duller. Wings black or dark brown with checker-board of white spots. We were inspired to create this screen print by some of our favorite garden visitors, the silver-spotted skipper butterflies that flit from flower to flower. Found throughout England and Wales but becoming increasingly rare.
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