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Species Erynnis lucilius - Columbine Duskywing - Hodges#3958

possible Columbine duskywing - Erynnis lucilius - male Columbine Duskywing, larva - Erynnis lucilius perhaps Columbine Duskywing - Erynnis lucilius Columbine Duskywing, feedingX (and hiding) - Erynnis lucilius Columbine Duskywing - Erynnis lucilius butterfly - Erynnis lucilius skipper 1 - Erynnis lucilius Juvenal's Duskywing or Common Sootywing?? - Erynnis lucilius
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)
Family Hesperiidae (Skippers)
Subfamily Pyrginae (Spread-wing Skippers)
Tribe Erynnini
Genus Erynnis (Duskywings)
Species lucilius (Columbine Duskywing - Hodges#3958)
Hodges Number
3958
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Erynnis lucilius (Scudder & Burgess, 1870)
Size
WS ≈ 33–42mm
Identification
Adult: Upperside is dark brown; brown patch at end of FW cell is indistinct. Underside of hindwing has marginal and submarginal rows of well-defined pale spots. Male has a costal fold containing yellow scent scales; female has a patch of scent scales on the 7th abdominal segment.
Range
Quebec & New England, west to Manitoba; south to New Jersey, along the Appalachians to Virginia and Kentucky.
Season
Two broods from April-September.
Food
Adult: Flower nectar.
Larva: Columbine, wild (Aquilegia Canadensis) and sometimes garden (A. vulgaris), in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae).
Life Cycle
Females deposit eggs singly under leaves of the host plant. Caterpillars feed on leaves and rest in shelters of leaves. Fully-grown caterpillars from the second brood hibernate.

Life cycle photos:
egg on Columbine leaf, egg with larva hatching, larva, larva, adult
See Also
Erynnis lucilius           Erynnis baptisiae           Erynnis persius

Columbine (E. lucilius), Wild Indigo (E. baptisiae) and Persius (E. persius) Duskywings belong to the "Persius complex," a confusing group of very similar skippers.
Internet References
Species page at Butterflies and Moths of North America