Friday, November 19, 2010

Sickle Winged Skipper


While I was in Texas, I loved all the big beautiful butterflies, but everybody seemed to want to find the LBJs (little brown jobs) to add to their life list. This on, the Sickle Winged Skipper, was lovely in a muted kind of way. It is named for the pale semicircles at the edge of the forewing; supposedly they look like sickles. I don't know. Maybe. It can also be identified by the bit of a hook just below the apex of the forewings. The caterpillars eat citrus and prickly-ash.

This is a spread-wing skipper, meaning that when it rests, it holds it wings open like most butterflies. When folded-wing skippers rest, they fold two wings closer to their body, so you can see all four wings as separate planes.

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