Rikki, you won't be able to make a call on the ID by looking at the Checkered-Skipper so just chalk it up as a Checkered-Skipper sp. White Checkered-Skippers are steadily moving northward so it could have been either species. Some of my pastures are full of Prickly Mallow and that's why I've been seeing lots of Checkered-Skippers here. They're feeding on it, mating on it and laying eggs on it. I've attached a pic of a particularly bright one I saw recently enjoying some horse manure. When in flight, it was extremely white. Ken Childs Henderson, TN Chester County http://www.finishflagfarms.com ________________________________ From: Rikki Hall <sourpersimmon@xxxxxxxxx> To: TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2011 12:12 AM Subject: [TN-Butterflies] checkered skipper in Knox Co Twice this year I have seen a checkered skipper while working in a garden. Both times it was active and moved on before I had a chance for a good look, but maybe next time! My presumption is these were common checkered skippers, but I'm not sure I'd be able to make an ID with even a good look. There is an introduced Eurasian mallow that grows as a weed in this garden (Hibiscus trionum, on many states' noxious weeds lists). This garden is the only place I've seen this mallow and the only place locally I've seen a checkered skipper, possibly not a coincidence. I'm wondering whether the relative scarcity of checkered skippers in Eastern Tenn. is related to the scarcity of mallows in the local flora. The Audubon butterfly guide describes Pyrgus communis as a candidate for "the most common skipper in North America," which seems daft from a E. TN perspective. A look at the invasive mallow's distribution suggests that it is fairly common in and around Midwestern and rust-belt cities, so maybe communis is benefiting from trionum's colonization of vacant lots and weedy fields in developed areas and from decorative plantings of other Hibiscus species and is actually a better candidate for "most cosmopolitan skipper." Rikki Hall
Attachment:
IMG_7273.jpg
Description: JPEG image
