Skipper D
Faith Lienhard
Skippers are classified in the order of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), within the family Hesperiidae, which now belongs to the superfamily Papilionoidea, the superfamily of butterflies. (Previously, Hesperiidae was placed in its own superfamily, Hesperiodea.) We have about 30 species of skippers in the Bay Area, each belonging to one of two subfamilies: the spread-wings (Pyrginae) and the branded or grass skippers (Hesperiinae).
The skipper is endemic to just a 50 kilometer stretch from Bear Island to Fort Macon State Park, and its total range is less than 3,300 ha. Unfortunately, the skipper is experiencing habitat fragmentation due to urban development, as much of its range overlaps with human activities, buildings and homes.
Partners include North Carolina Aquariums, NC State University CMAST, Michigan State University, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, North Carolina Sea Grant, the North Carolina Botanical Garden, and the Master Gardeners.
In 2019, our vegetation surveys examined the impacts of Hurricane Florence on bluestem density and distribution. The results reflect the scouring effect of the hurricane and, combined with skipper surveys, helped us identify areas in need of additional restoration work.
The host and nectar plants required by the skipper are common dune plants. In Summer 2019, we partnered with the NC Botanical Garden to collect seeds from seaside little bluestem and other common dune plants that provide nectar for the Crystal skipper. These are being grown out for planting in the Fall of 2020.
Our workshops have attracted more than 4,000 participants, from purse-seine skippers, crew, ship owners and fleet managers to cannery managers, scientists, and government officials. We also have hosted seabird and sea turtle workshops for longline skippers.
On the ISSF Guidebooks site, we provide in-depth sustainable-fishing guides for tuna skippers and observers in Web and PDF format, including in translation. We also offer tuna and bycatch species identification guides and other practical resources.
The Pawnee montane skipper is a species with a narrow distribution that is endemic to Colorado. Fire suppression, development of dams and reservoirs and climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
Learn more about climate change are all threats to the persistence and recovery of this federally threatened species, as noted in the 2020 amendment to the recovery plan.
The skippers occur in dry, open ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) woodlands at an elevational range of 6,000 to 7,500 feet. The slopes are moderately steep with soils derived from Pikes Peak granite as described in the recovery plan from 1998. The understory is limited in the pine woodlands. Blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) and prairie gayfeather (Liatris punctata) are two necessary components of the ground cover strata. Blue grama grass is the primary plant for egg deposition, larvae feeding, larvae overwintering and pupation. The prairie gayfeather is the primary nectar plant for adult skippers, as noted in the 5-year review in 2011. The 1998 recovery plan notes that small clumps of blue grama occur throughout the warm, open slopes inhabited by skippers and that prairie gayfeather occurs throughout the ponderosa pine woodlands. Skippers are very uncommon in pine woodlands with a tall shrub understory or where young conifers dominate the understory.
The optimum skipper conditions are a tree canopy cover of 25% from ponderosa pine and 5% from Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), as noted in the 5-year review in 2011. In a 1986 status report that was produced by ERT Company, other general characteristics of Pawnee montane skipper habitat include:
The skipper has two main plants upon which it feeds, blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis), used by larvae, and prairie gayfeather (Liatris punctata), from which adults get their nectar (Liatris pycnostachya), noted in the 5-year review in 2011. Other plants noted as occasional nectar sources include smooth asters (Aster laevis), in upland areas and along gully bottoms where soil moisture is greater, and musk thistle (Carduus nutans), which is especially important along river bottom edges and up some ravines, as noted in the recovery plan. Females of this skipper species were observed along the South Platte River in large numbers on musk thistle, as documented by Opler in 1986. The Colorado Department of Agriculture includes musk thistle among its List B species of noxious weeds, which means that it is a species for which the Commissioner of Agriculture develops and implements state noxious weed management plans, in consultation with the state noxious weed advisory committee, local governments and other interested parties, to stop their continued spread. Other plants occasionally used by Pawnee montane skippers include Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), bee balm (Monarda spp.), pineywoods geranium (Geranium caespitosum), sunflower (Helianthus spp.), Senecio (Senecio spp.), as documented in the 5-year review. J.R. Sovell documented in 2018 that false goldenaster (Heterotheca villosa) is particularly important when prairie gayfeather is sparse or absent.
The Pawnee montane skipper is a small, brownish-yellow butterfly with a wing span slightly more than 1 inch (2.54 centimeters). Small, dull brownish-yellow, usually distinct spots occur near the outer margins of the upper surface of the wings, while one to four distinct brownish to off-white spots occur on the lower surface of the wings. The ventral spots are larger on the hind wing and are generally whiter on the female butterfly.
Pawnee montane skippers emerge from their pupae as adult butterflies in late July. Usually, males emerge before females by an average of seven to 10 days. Adult emergence and flight period coincides with the flowering period for prairie gayfeather, as documented by ERT Company in 1986, with the primary flight period occurring from late August to early September, as documented by the amendment to the recovery plan in 2020. The species overwinters as young larvae; little is known about the larval and pupal stages, as noted in the 1998 recovery plan. Pupation is generally short, 13 to 23 days, in most butterfly species. The skipper completes its life cycle - egg to larva to pupa to adult butterfly to egg - annually, as L.D. Keenan and others documented in 1986.
Adult females deposit eggs singly and directly on leaves of blue grama grass, the larval food plant, as documented by J.A. Scott and R.E. Stanford in 1982, as well as W.D. McGuire in 1982, and later by P.A. Opler in 1986.
This skipper is one of my favorite little skippers in late June and early July. It certainly exemplifies why these insects are called skippers, since they are nearly impossible to follow as they fly quickly from one nectar source to another. You better have your binoculars ready for these skippers! This species should be expected in drier habitats, where it is often seen nectaring on various species of milkweed.
Above, this skipper is a very bright orange with black margins. The male has no stigma, but does have a black mark at the end of the cell. There is usually some darkening of the veins at least on the forewing. The female is much darker with a wider margin, darker veins, and additional black markings towards the body on the forewing. Below, the sexes are both unmarked yellowish orange, with the color definitely duller than the color of the wings above. The fringe is basically the same orange as the under wings.
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