The Skippers

are mostly small butterflies, with an average wingspan of about 1 1/2 inches (38 mm). They appear to skip over the ground as they fly. The body is hairy and is fatter than that of other butterflies, and the antennae generally end in a hook. The wings are a drab brown with golden, silver, or copper markings. The caterpillars spin loose cocoons, the only butterfly caterpillars to do so. Some of the caterpillars build tentlike nests in which they molt. More than 2,000 species of skippers have been identified, most of them economically unimportant.

Family Hesperiidae. Examples:

(Urbanus proteus). Dark brown with yellowish spots; hind wings have tails. Ranges along Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Connecticut to Mexico.

(Epargyreus clarus). Brown with tawny spots on fore wings. Common throughout temperate North America.

Family Megathymidae. Example:

(Megathymus yuccae). Wingspan up to about 3 inches (76 mm); fat, mothlike body. Dark brown wings marked with reddish brown. Found in southwestern United States and Mexico.

Skippers are not true butterflies, but they are closely related to them and to moths. In fact, it can be hard to tell them apart.

But, looking closely at a skipper’s antennae will help you identify these creatures. Most skippers have very characteristic hooks at the tips of their antennae. Butterflies have antennae with rounded or clubbed tips. Moth antennae are usually feathered.

Another way to identify a skipper is to watch it fly. A skipper darts and skips as it moves from one flower to another.

Skippers live in most parts of the world. About 300 species, or kinds, live in North America. Some of the skippers of North America include the checkered skipper, fiery skipper, Juvenal’s duskywing, least skipperling, roadside skipper, and the silver-spotted skipper.

have long, jointed mouthparts that project from the front of the head to form a pronounced snout or beak. Only one species (Libytheana bachmanii) is common in the United States.

Family: Libytheidae.

Picture a fox or a dog. Each of these animals has a nose and mouth that sticks out from the head. This pointed part of the head is called a snout.

A small family of butterflies, called snout butterflies, has mouthparts that are long and snoutlike. But a snout butterfly does not have a true snout like a fox or a dog. A butterfly’s snoutlike mouthparts seem to be used for camouflage.

When the butterfly rests, these mouthparts look like the stalk of a leaf. So, the snout helps the butterfly disguise itself as a leaf and fool its predators.

Most snout butterflies live in tropical lands. One of the most common, the American snout butterfly—often simply called the snout butterfly—lives in a range that spans from Paraguay in South America to the southern United States.

Swallowtails get their name from the taillike extensions on the hind wings of some species. With a wingspan of up to 5 1/2 inches (140 mm), swallowtails are the largest butterflies found in the United States. They are generally black, marked with yellow, green, and blue. The wing edges may be spotted with red or orange.

Parnassians are smaller than swallowtails and in the United States are found primarily in the west.

Each of the swallowtail butterfly’s back wings comes to a long, skinny point. To many people, these points look like tails. But they are not real tails like those on cats or dogs.

Swallowtails all over the world are closely related. Most live in tropical places, although some familiar, beautiful kinds live in the United States.

Many swallowtails are large compared with other butterflies. Some of the largest kinds have wings that are nearly 10 inches (25 centimeters) across!

The tiger swallowtail is one of the largest and most beautiful butterflies. This butterfly has yellow wings striped in black in a pattern like that of a tiger’s coat. When a tiger swallowtail opens its wings, it is more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) across.

Family: Papilionidae. Examples:

(Papilio Polyxenes). Black wings with double row of yellow spots. Common throughout United States and southern Canada. Caterpillars eat leaves of carrots, parsnips, and similar plants.

(P. cresphontes). Largest butterfly in United States. Dark brown with yellow bars. Ranges northward to southern Canada, Caterpillars, called orange dogs, harm orange trees in Florida by feeding on the leaves.

(genus Parnassius). Translucent whitish wings with gray or brownish-red markings; stout bodies and rounded wings. Live in northern mountain regions.

Tiger Swallowtail

(Papilio glaucus). Yellow wings with dark edges and stripes. Caterpillars eat tree leaves. Found throughout United States and southern Canada, except on Pacific coast.