Delaware Skipper - Anatrytone logan
Family: Hesperiidae - Skippers / Size: 35mm - 40mm wingspan
Live adult Delaware skipper photographed at Allegheny Nat'l Forest, Pennsylvania, USA.
Butterflies Home | Butterfly Index | Skipper Butterflies | Moths | Moths Index

Delaware Skipper - Anatrytone logan

Identification: Upper side of forewing is dark on the basal half and lighter on the outer half, with a distinct orange-brown patch at the end of the cell. Male has a costal fold containing yellow scent scales; female has a patch of scent scales on the 7th abdominal segment.

Life history: Males perch in open areas on low shrubs to wait for females. Eggs are deposited singly on the host plant. Fully-grown caterpillars from the second brood hibernate.

Flight: Two broods from late April to early June and from July to August. Wing span: 1 3/8 - 1 5/8 inches (3/5 - 4.1 cm).

Caterpillar hosts: Usually wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria), but also others including wild blue indigo (B. australis), lupine (Lupinus perennis), false lupine (Thermopsis villosa), and crown vetch (Coronilla varia). [1]
Delaware Skipper - Anatrytone logan
Skippers are so called because of their usually erratic and frenetic flight patterns; the Delaware skipper is no exception.
Adult food: Nectar from pink and white flowers including swamp and common milkweeds, shrub houstonia, mountain mint, marsh fleabane, sweet pepperbush, buttonbush, thistles, and pickerelweed. Habitat: Moist areas including marshes, prairies, fields, roadsides, suburban yards.

Range: Southern Maine west across the Great Lakes states and southern Canada to central Montana; south to Florida, the Gulf states, Texas, northeastern New Mexico, and the Mexican highlands to El Salvador.

NatureServe Global Status: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.  [1]
References
  1. Opler, Paul A., Kelly Lotts, and Thomas Naberhaus, coordinators. 2010. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Big Sky Institute, "Delaware Skipper - Anatrytone logan (W.H. Edwards, 1863)"
  2. Bugguide.net, "Delaware Skipper"
Custom Search
Order Lepidoptera, which contains both butterflies and moths, includes at least 125,000 known species including 12,000 in North America. Butterflies are revered for their brightly colored wings and pleasing association with fair weather and flowers.
Learn to identify many of the American Midwest's common species through descriptions and large diagnostic photos of live, wild specimens.
Butterfly Index | Moth Pictures | Moths Index | Skipper Butterflies
© Red Planet Inc.