northern cloudywing (Thorybes pylades)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONFIRMATION STATUS: Confirmed.

 

FAMILY: Hesperiidae

SUBFAMILY: Pyrginae

 

IDENTIFICATION: Upperside is dark brown; clear spots on forewing

are small, triangular, and not aligned. Male forewing has a costal fold en-

closing scent scales. Underside is brown with gray overscaling; hindwing

has 2 dark bands.

 

WING SPAN: 1 1/4 - 1 7/8 inches (3.2 - 4.7 cm).

 

LIFE HISTORY: Males perch on or near the ground in forest openings

to wait for females. Eggs are laid singly under leaves of the host plants. Caterpillars feed on leaves and live in shelters of rolled or tied leaves.

Fully-grown caterpillars hibernate.

 

FLIGHT: One brood from May-July in the north, earlier in the south.

Two broods from March-September in Texas.

 

CATERPILLAR HOSTS: Various plants in the pea family (Fab-

aceae) including beggar's ticks (Desmodium), bush clover (Lespedeza),

clover (Trifolium), lotus (Hosackia), and others.

 

ADULT FOOD: Usually nectar from blue, purple, pink, or white flowers including dogbane, selfheal, crown vetch, Japanese honeysuckle, thistles, common milkweed, Deptford pink, hoary vervain, and others.

 

HABITAT: Open or scrubby boreal woodland and forest edges.

 

RANGE: Nova Scotia west across southern Canada to British Columbia,

south through California and the Rocky Mountain states to Mexico, Texas,

the Gulf states, and Florida.

 

CONSERVATION: Not usually required.

 

NCGR: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare

in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

 

MANAGEMENT NEEDS: None reported.

 

SKY MEADOWS OCCURRENCE:

 

Note: Due to seasonal conditions in this region, occurrence may vary from

year to year. The designation of occurrence may range over two or more

categories and may vary even during a single season.

 

Key to Checklist

A   Abundant: Easy to see very large numbers of individuals in appropriate habitat
      at proper time of year.
C   Common: Usually each to see good numbers of individuals in appropriate habitat
      at proper time of year.
U   Uncommon: Sometimes found in appropriate habitat and proper time of year,
      usually in low numbers.
O   Occasional: Found in appropriate habitat perhaps only a few times a year, usually
      in low numbers.
R   Rare: Small chance of being found, even in appropriate habitat at proper time of
      year. There are few individuals and may not be present every year.
X   Extirpated: Formerly present, no longer occurs in Sky Meadows Park.

 

      January

      February

      March

      April
      May

      June

      July

      August

      September

      October

      November

      December

 

 

Back to Inventory of Butterfly Families and Species