Species Carterocephalus mandan - Arctic Skipper - Hodges#3982

3982

Chequered Skipper (in Eurasia)

Carterocephalus mandan (Edwards, 1863)

Carterocephalus mandan mandan (Edwards, 1863)

Carterocephalus mandan mesapano (Edwards, 1870)

Hesperia mandan Edwards, 1863

Hesperia mesapano Scudder, 1868

Carterocephalus mandan (Edwards, 1863), formerly treated as a subspecies of Papilio palaemon Pallas, 1771, is raised to full species with mesapano Scudder, 1868 as a subspecies in Zhang et al. (2020)(1). C. palaemon (Pallas, 1771) is now considered extralimital to North America.

The name Arctic Skipper is misleading as it is not found in the Arctic, and is most common in the Boreal and Mixed Deciduous Woodland Zones on the margins of deciduous forests.

wingspan 19-32 mm

Adult: upperside black with squarish orange spots; underside of forewing orange with black spots; underside of hindwing red-orange with cream spots outlined in black

Larva: cream-coloured with faint dorsal stripe and yellowish lateral line above row of black spots

Type Locality: Manitoba.

Glades and openings in heavily forested woods, moist meadows, and streamsides.

One brood from May-July.

Larva: Grasses, including purple reedgrass (Calamagrostis purpurascens) in California.

Adults: Nectar from flowers, including Iris in California.

Adults rest with their wings closed, but bask with hindwings open wide and forewings open to about 45 degrees. To find receptive females, males perch on low vegetation and sometimes patrol in openings. Females lay eggs singly on leaves of the host plant. Caterpillars live and feed within nests of silked-together leaves; fully-grown caterpillars overwinter in their nests and then pupate within them in the spring.

Considered high priority conservation in Europe.

A Field Guide to Western Butterflies (Peterson Field Guides) by Paul A. Opler, Amy Bartlett Wright, Roger Tory Peterson

The Field Guide to Butterflies by William Jacob Holland