''Hermeuptychia sosybius'', the Carolina satyr, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

. It is found in the United States from southern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

south along the coast to southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, west to south-eastern

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, central Oklahoma and central

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It is also found in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Central America. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

is 32–38 mm. The upperside is brown without markings. The underside is also brown, but with small eyespots rimmed with yellow on both wings. They feed on sap and rotting fruit. Its larvae can feed upon the highly-invasive Japanese stilt grass ''

Microstegium vimineum ''Microstegium vimineum'', commonly known as Japanese stiltgrass, packing grass, or Nepalese browntop, is an annual grass that is common in a wide variety of habitats and is well adapted to low light levels. Despite being non-native in the Unite ...

'', so populations of this butterfly are potentially at risk from efforts to remove stilt grass. The endangered Mitchell's Satyr ''

Neonympha mitchellii ''Neonympha mitchellii'' is an endangered species of nymphalid butterfly of the eastern United States. There are two known subspecies:. *''N. m. mitchellii'', the nominate subspecies, commonly called Mitchell's satyr or Mitchell's marsh satyr, ...

'' is also able to feed upon stilt grass. The larvae also feed on various Poaceae species, including ''

Axonopus compressus ''Axonopus compressus'' ( syn. ''Axonopus compressus'' (Sw.) P.Beauv. var. ''australis'' G.A.Black, ''Milium compressum'' Sw., ''Paspalum compressum'' (Sw.) Nees, ''Paspalum platycaule'' Willd. ex Steud., ''Paspalum platycaulon'' Poir.) is a spec ...

'', '' Eremochloa ophiuroides'', '' Stenotaphrum secundatum'' and ''

Poa pratensis ''Poa pratensis'', commonly known as Kentucky bluegrass (or blue grass), smooth meadow-grass, or common meadow-grass, is a perennial species of grass native to practically all of Europe, North Asia and the mountains of Algeria and Morocco. Altho ...

''.

References

Butterflies described in 1793 Euptychiina {{Satyrini-stub