I can even look back on those childhood afternoons and say with reasonable assurance that I was watching fiery skippers ( Hylephila phyleus). But the day came-honestly, after about six years of getting it wrong-when I started to feel confident about anything that landed in front of me.
SKIPPER BUTTERFLIES CRACK
When butterfly mania took hold of me decades back I thought I’d never crack the skippers’ code: the creatures are impish, and maddening to learn. The greatest diversity of species is found in the Neotropics, but they occur worldwide save for New Zealand-more than 3,500 species of skippers in all.ĭistinguishing between those species is not easy. Most have clubbed antenna tips modified into narrow, hooklike projections and lack the wing-coupling structure of most moths. Commonly considered something between a butterfly and a moth, they are diurnal (day-flying) and named for their quick, darting movements. Though I didn’t know it then, I was watching skippers.
They seemed to look back through big, doe-like eyes with an attitude of “Catch me if you can!” They were the color of animal crackers, blasting past me to land on blades of grass. I remember, somewhere in between learning to walk and starting kindergarten, lying on the cool grass in the backyard and watching them. Common checkered-skipper (left) and Umber skipper (right).
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