Complete Guide To The Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Butterfly
Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Butterfly
Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Butterfly Images
Horace’s Duskywing Skipper butterfly Erynnis horatius. Photograph taken by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
How To Identify Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Butterflies
- Wingspan: 1.25 – 1.75 inches (3.2 – 4.4 cm)
- Above:
- Both forewings and hind wings are predominantly brown, with no gray.
- Differentiated from several different species of Duskywing Skippers mostly by the presence of a single, tiny, white spot on the forewing cell.
- Cluster of small, white spots at forewing tip.
- Wing markings are otherwise minimal and small, pale, and faint.
- Females are lighter brown overall, with more contrast in wing markings.
- Below:
- Paler than above overall.
- Mottled dark and light brown with no white markings.
- Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Butterflies are often mistaken for moths because both are dull brown and spread their wings out flat when perched.
- Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Butterflies are very similar to several other Duskywing species, like Juvenal’s Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis) and Zarucco Duskywing (Erynnis zarucco). Distinguishing between the different species can be difficult for two reasons:
- Species identification relies on faint and subtle field marks.
- Individual butterflies can vary in appearance despite being of the same species.
- Casual nature observers in North Carolina are most apt to spot a Horace’s Duskywing Skipper as this species has a longer flight season and a broader distribution than the other species.
Horace’s Duskywing Skipper butterfly Erynnis horatius labelled with field marks that identify the species. Photograph and diagram created by the author. Copyright Now I Wonder.
How to Find Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Butterflies
- Flight Season: In North Carolina, adult Horace’s Duskywing Skippers fly between May and October, and have approximately three broods every summer (Daniels 2003).
- These brown butterflies fly longer than other duskywing skippers such as the Juvenal’s Skipper (Erynnis juvenalis), which only flies for the first few months of spring.
- Look for adult Horace’s Duskywing Skippers in warm, sunny spots near woodlands, especially woods with oak trees.
- Males perch on low vegetation and sometimes like to puddle at damp sand or gravel to drink water and obtain mineral salts.
- Horace’s Duskywing Skippers do not sequester toxic chemicals from their food plants in their body tissues like some other butterfly species. They are entirely edible for insect-eating predators like birds, spiders, assassin bugs, and Green Anoles.
Horace’s Duskywing Butterfly Classification
- These butterflies are called “skippers” because of their quick, darting flying style, called “duskywings” because of their dull, brown coloration, and “Horace’s” after a Roman poet (many duskywing species are named after Roman poets) (Glassberg 1999).
|
Phylum |
Arthropoda |
|
Class |
Insecta |
|
Order |
Lepidoptera |
|
Family |
Hesperiidae (Skipper Butterflies) |
|
Genus |
Erynnis |
|
Species |
E. horatius |
Binomial Name |
Erynnis horatius |
