Common Checkered-skipper
(Burnsius communis)
Spread-wing Skippers
Appearance: Above, male blue-gray with a pattern of white checkering heaviest in the mid area of both wings; female brown-black with smaller areas of white checkering. Outer edges of wings have two rows of small white spots with the inner being larger, and checkered fringes. Beneath both wings white with tan or olive bands and irregular spots.
Wingspan: Small; 1 to 1 1/2 inches.
Habitat: Adaptable to great changes in altitude; open, sunny places with low vegetation and some bare soil, including prairies, meadows, fields, roadsides, gardens, pastures, openings and trails in woods; plains, foothills, montane.
Flight Times: April through September. Fully grown caterpillars hibernate.
Larval Foodplant: Several plants in the Mallow (Malvaceae) family.
Did You Know…
Skippers differ from butterflies in having small hooks at the end of the antennae clubs, stouter bodies and relatively smaller wings. The Common Checkered-skipper is probably the most common skipper (nearly one-third of all butterflies in North America are skippers).
