''Polites themistocles'', the tawny-edged skipper, is a North American

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 ...

in 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 ...

Description

This species varies geographically and within populations.Rick Cech and Guy Tudor (2005). ''Butterflies of the East Coast''. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. The upper side of the male's wings is brown or olive brown with the forewing having bright orange along the costa that ends at the stigma. The stigma is thicker than the male crossline skipper's ('' Polites origenes'') and it usually runs more parallel to the costa.Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Butterflies of North America''. Houghton Mifflin, New York, NY. The upperside of the female's wings is brown with the forewing having a less conspicuous orange costa than the male. Near the end of the forewing cell there are two rectangular pale spots and three pale spots in a row in the subapical area. The underside of the wings vary form light brown to brown to brownish-orange. Sometimes the hindwing will have a crossband like the crossline skipper, but it is usually much more faint. The "tawny-edged" forewing strongly contrasts with the hindwing color. Its

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 ...

ranges from to 1 inch (19–25 mm).Ernest M. Shull (1987). ''The Butterflies of Indiana''. Indiana Academy of Science.

Similar species

Similar species in the tawny-edged skipper's range include the crossline skipper and the Baracoa skipper ('' Polites baracoa''). Crossline skippers are usually larger than tawny-edged skippers. The male has a thinner forewing stigma, and it does not run parallel to the costa. The female has less or no orange along the forewing costa and has two or three pale forewing spots with the central one being more squarish. The underside of both wings is olive brown to brown with the hindwing having a pale crossband. The Baracoa skipper is smaller than the tawny-edged skipper. The male has a short and straight stigma. The female has a lost of orange on her forewing and has dark patches in the same locations as the male. The underside of the wings is very similar to the tawny-edged skipper's except the hindwing has a pale crossband.

Habitat

This species favors a wide range of habitats including alpine bogs, forest glades, grassy areas, moist meadows, savannas, and stream sides.

Flight

This skipper flies from June to early August in the north and west, May to August in the east, and May to early November in the deep south.David C. Iftner, John A. Shuey, and John V. Calhoun (1992). ''Butterflies and Skippers of Ohio''. College of Biological Sciences and The Ohio State University. James A. Scott (1986). ''The Butterflies of North America''. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

Life cycle

Most of the day, males perch on grass blades or stems to await females. Females lay their greenish white

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

on or near the host plant. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

lives in a nest by tying leaves together with

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

. The variable brown larva is indistinguishable from closely related larvae. The

overwintering Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activi ...

stage is the

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

. The tawny-edged skipper has one

brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American Periodical Cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest bro ...

per year in the northeast and northwest and two or three broods per year in the deep south.

Host plants

Host plants of the tawny-edged skipper include: * Slender crabgrass ('' Digitaria filiformis'') * '' Panicum microcarpum'' * Smooth meadow-grass (''

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polites Themistocles Butterflies of North America Polites (butterfly) Butterflies described in 1824 Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille