''Hesperia pahaska'', the Pahaska skipper, is a

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

of the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

. It is found from North America in a narrow belt of states extending from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, just reaching Canada in southern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

.Pahaska Skipper
Butterflies of Canada 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 of ...

is 28–33 mm. The flight period is from June to early July in the northern U.S. Its habitats include desert grassland, chaparral, open woodland and prairie hills. The larvae feed on blue grama (''

Bouteloua gracilis ''Bouteloua gracilis'', the blue grama, is a long-lived, warm-season (C4 carbon fixation, C4) Perennial plant, perennial grass, native to North America. It is most commonly found from Alberta, Canada, east to Manitoba and south across the Rocky ...

''), fluff grass (''

Erioneuron pulchellum ''Dasyochloa'' is a monotypic genus containing the single species ''Dasyochloa pulchella''

''),

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

species, and ''

Tridens pulchella ''Tridens'' is the scientific name for several genera of organisms and may refer to: * ''Tridens'' (fish), a genus of catfish in the family Trichomycteridae, containing the single species ''Tridens melanops'' * ''Tridens'' (fungus) , a genus o ...

''.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.''Hesperia''
funet.fi *''H. p. martini'' MacNeill, 1964 *''H. p. pahaska'' *''H. p. williamsi'' Lindsey, 1940

References

External links

Pahaska Skipper
Butterflies and Moths of North America {{Taxonbar, from=Q5745861 Hesperia (butterfly) Butterflies described in 1938