skippers: happy little butterflies
- Garden-Green
- Sep 10, 2023
- 2 min read
Skippers are an entertaining late-summer sight, sure to add movement and life to your gardens. If painter Bob Ross had described these fast-flying moth-like butterflies, he might have called them “happy little skippers.” They fly by day like other butterflies but have stout bodies, short wings, large eyes, and small hooks on the ends of their antennae.
Nearly a third of all butterflies in North America are skippers. Most species are tropical or are in the southern U.S. But there are two subfamilies of skippers in southwestern Ohio: spread-winged and grass skippers. Many species, especially the grass skippers, look similar and can be hard to identify.
Life Cycle
Skipper caterpillars feed at night and hide in protective covers made of silk and leaves during the day. Many grass-feeding caterpillar species are rarely seen. Most skipper caterpillars overwinter in their leaf shelters, falling to the ground when leaves fall in autumn; some overwinter as a chrysalis.
Attracting Skippers
Enjoy them in your garden by following a few steps:
Grow host plants for skipper caterpillars to survive.
Grow nectar plants with blooms throughout the season for skipper butterflies to thrive.
Provide a spot with damp soil/mud.
Leave the leaves in garden beds in the fall for overwintering.
Avoid using pesticides, which can harm skippers.
Spread-Winged Skippers & Host Plants
Adult butterflies perch with wings up or spread out to the side.
SPREAD-WINGED SKIPPERS in GREATER CINCINNATI | CATERPILLAR HOST PLANTS |
Silver-Spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) | Legumes including: Beggar’s Ticks (Bidens sp.) |
Hoary Edge (Achalarus lyciades) | Tick Trefoils (Desmodium sp.) Wild Indigos (Baptisia sp.) |
Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades) | Bush Clovers (Lespedeza sp.) Groundnut (Apios americana) |
Southern Cloudywing (Thorybes bathyllus) | Wild Beans (Strophostyles sp.) Wisteria (Wisteria frutecans) |
Wild Indigo Duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae) | Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) Black Locust (Robina pseudoacacia) |
| Hogpeanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata) |
| Canada Milkvetch (Astragalus canadensis) |
| ...also clovers and alfalfa |
Sleepy Duskywing (Erynnis brizo) | |
Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius) | Oaks (Quercus sp.) |
Juvenal’s Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis) | |
Dreamy Duskywing (Erynnis icelus) | Willows (Salix sp.) Aspens and Cottonwoods (Populus sp.) Birches (Betula sp.) |
Common Checkered Skipper (Pyrgus communis) | Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) Halberd-Leaved Rose Mallow (Hibiscus laevis) |
Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus) | Mexican Tea (Dysphania ambrosioides) Amaranths (Amaranthus sp.) |
Southern Scallop Sootywing (Staphylus hayhurstii) | Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album): some varieties native, some not) |
Grass Skippers & Host Plants
Adult butterflies perch, holding their top wings vertically and bottom wings horizontally.
GRASS SKIPPERS in GREATER CINCINNATI | CATERPILLAR HOST PLANTS |
Pepper and Salt Skipper (Amblyscirtes hegon) | Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi) Little Bluestem (Andropogon scoparius) |
Common Roadside Skipper (Amblyscirtes vialis) | Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) Blue Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis) |
Least Skipper (Ancyloxpha numitor) Sachem (Atalopedes campestris) | Sedges (Carex sp.) Indian Woodoats (Chasmanthium latifolium) |
Delaware Skipper (Atrytone logan) Dun Skipper (Euphyes vestris) | Deertongue Grass (Dichanthelium clandestinum) |
Leonard’s Skipper (Hesperia leonardus) Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) | native Crabgrass (Digitaria filiformis) Canada Wild Rye (Elymus canadensis) |
Swarthy Skipper (Nastra iherminier) | Love Grasses (Eragrostis sp.) |
Northern Golden Skipper (Poanes hobomok) | Rice Cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides) Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) |
Southern Golden Skipper (Poanes zabulon) | Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis) Old Pasture Bluegrass (Poa saltuensis) |
Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius) | Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) |
Long Dash (Polites mystic) | Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans) |
Crossline Skipper (Polites origenes) | Purpletop Grass (Tridens flavus) |
Tawny-Edged Skipper (Polites themistocles) | |
Little Glassywing (Pompeius verna) | |
European skipper (Thymelicus lineola)* | |
Northern Broken-Dash (Wallengrenia egeremet) |
*Nonnative skipper accidentally introduced in 1910. The main host is nonnative Timothy Grass (Phleum pratense). Unlike other grass skippers, overwinters as an egg.
Butterfly Nectar Plants for Skippers
Here’s a sampling of nectar plants for adult skipper butterflies.
Native nectar plants:
Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta)
Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Beggar’s Ticks (Bidens sp.)
Tall Bellflower (Campanula americana)
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)
Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
Toothworts (Cardamine sp.)
Tall Thistle (Circium altissimum) Field Thistle (Circium discolor)
Swamp Thistle (Cirsium muticum)
Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)
Tick Trefoil (Desmodium canadense)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Fleabanes (Erigeron sp.)
Bonesets (Eupatorium sp.)
Asters (Eurybia sp. & Symphyotrichum sp.)
Goldenrods (Euthamia sp. & Solidago sp.)
Joe Pye (Eutrochium sp.)
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca)
Wild Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum)
American Ipecac (Gillenia stipulata)
Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)
Sunflowers (Helianthus sp.)
Oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides)
Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)
Northern Blue Flag (Iris versicolor)
Twoflower dwarfdandelion (Krigia biflora)
Blazing Stars (Liatris sp.)
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis stricta)
Phlox (Phlox sp.)
Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)
Greek Valerian (Polemonium reptans)
Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)
Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)
Native Wild Plums (Prunus sp.)
Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum sp.)
Blackberries (Rubus sp.)
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Ragworts (Senecio sp.)
Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata)
Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea)
Carolina Vetch (Vicia caroliniana)
native Viburnums (Viburnum sp.)
Other nectar plants:
White Sweet Clover (Melilotus albus)
Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis)
Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum)
Red clover (Trifolium pratense)
White clover (Trifolium repens)
Marigolds (Tagetes sp.)
Zinnias (Zinnia elegans)
...and more!
SOURCES
Brock, Jim P. and Kaufman, Kenn. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. 2003: Mariner Books, HarperCollins Publishers, New York.
Mader, Eric and Matthew Shepherd, Mace Vaughan, Scott Hoffman Black, and Gretchen LeBuhn. Attracting Native Pollinators. The Xerces Society Guide. 2011: Storey Publishing, North Adams, MA.
Pyle, Robert Michael. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. 1995: Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Stokes, Donald and Lillian, and Ernest Williams. The Butterfly Book. An Easy Guide to Butterfly Gardening, Identification, and Behavior. 1991: Little, Brown and Company, Boston.
Iftner, David C., John A. Shuey, and John V. Calhoun. Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio (Bulletin of the Ohio Biological Survey New Series). The Ohio Lepidopterists Research Report. Volume 9, Number 1. 1992: College of Biological Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
Tallamy, Doug. Bringing Nature Home. How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants. 2007: Timber Press. Portland, Oregon.
Wagner, David L. Caterpillars of Eastern North America. A Guide to Identification and Natural History. Princeton Field Guides. 2005: Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.z
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