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Species Polites sabuleti - Sandhill Skipper - Hodges#4037

Sandhill Skipper - Polites sabuleti sandhill skipper - Polites sabuleti Sandhill Skipper - Polites sabuleti - female moth? - Polites sabuleti Skipper - Polites sabuleti - male Sandhill Skipper - Polites sabuleti Skippers are tough to ID.  For me. - Polites sabuleti 3 Skippers, same area #3 - Polites sabuleti
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 Hesperiinae (Grass Skippers)
Tribe Hesperiini
Subtribe Hesperiina
Genus Polites
Species sabuleti (Sandhill Skipper - Hodges#4037)
Hodges Number
4037
Size
Wingspan of 2.2 - 3.2 cm.
Identification
Common and quite variable. Upperside of male is yellow-orange with dark toothed borders and a sinuous stigma on the forewing. Upperside of female has heavier dark markings and almost transparent light spots; no stigma. Underside of the hindwing in both sexes is yellow-tan with yellow veins, dark chevrons between the veins at the outer margin, and dark spots at the vein ends.
Range
Southern British Columbia and eastern Washington south through California and northern Arizona to Baja California; east to southeastern Wyoming, central Colorado, and northeastern New Mexico.
Habitat
Alkali grasslands, moist meadows, lawns, salt marshes, sand dunes, sagebrush flats, and alpine fell-fields.
Food
Caterpillar hosts: Various grasses including Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), bluegrass (Poa pratensis), desert salt grass (Distichlis spicata var. stricta), sand lovegrass (Eragrostis trichodes), rough bentgrass (Agrostis scabra), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), and alpine fescue (Festuca brachyphylla).

Adult food: Flower nectar.
Life Cycle
To watch for females, males perch all day in low grassy areas. Females deposit eggs singly on the host or on nearby plants. Caterpillars feed on leaves and take shelter in nests of tied leaves. Chrysalids hibernate.