Checkered Skippers

12 years ago

There were numerous common checkered skippers in my garden today, mostly nectaring on the Brazilian button. BB has proven to be a great nectar plant for small butterflies. There was this one male who continually followed a female around. He'd get right behind her and move his head back and forth - so cute!

{{gwi:530771}}
Sida - S. rhombifolia, I think - is everywhere around here, with those cute little yellow flowers that unfurl like a fan. I haven't found any cats, yet, but there must have been some somewhere, judging by their numbers.

Sherry

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

susanlynne48
12 years ago
Ooh, ooh, MissSherry, I found a great plant for the small butts, too, this year! It is Mountain Mint. They LOVED it. I may not have many butterflies this year, but the ones I had were all over it.

I love those Checkered Skippers (glad you dropped the "Common" from their common name). I see one every 2 or 3 years and that's it. Sigh....

Your photos are great!

Susan
MissSherry
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks, Susan!
I love the checkered skippers, too. And I left out the word "common" on purpose - they may be plentiful, but they're not a bit "common" to me! :)
I've read that mountain mint is real popular with butterflies, so I'm not surprised you're seeing so many butterflies on yours. I may give it a try soon.
Sherry
Related Discussions
Male Common Checkered Skipper?
Q
Comments (9)
Sida/fan petals grows all over the place here, Jeff, so when some came up next to garden beds, I let them grow. They apparently benefitted from the runoff of water I gave the beds in the summer, maybe even some fertilizer. They grew real big, about 5' tall, and bloomed incessantly all summer one year. I kept noticing female common checkered skippers nectaring on the flowers, so I started checking for cats. I found some of the tiniest little skipper cats wrapped up in leaves, then took them to raise myself. Here are two pictures of cats and one picture of a tiny chrysalis - The adults emerged successfully. CCCs are among my favorite skippers! Sherry
...See More
Giant Swallowtail & Pearl Crescent
Q
Comments (9)
Kellybird, usually the favorite host plant for giant swallowtails here is Ptelea trifoliata - the common names for this plant are hops tree or wafer ash, but it's not related to hops vines or ash trees, it's in the citrus family. This butterfly came from rue - I have five rue plants in my garden, and they're used by both giant and black swallowtails. Some of the caterpillars that I raised in the same group with the above butterfly came from my 'Louisiana Sweet' orange tree. I LOVE this tree! It comes through the winter with only minimal cold damage on just a little bit of the newest, new growth, and it's very vigorous - I've had it about 4? years, and it's about ?12' tall and about ? 7' wide. It's covered with little green oranges right now. The rue plants and the orange tree are both evergreen, and I found this batch of hatchling cats early in the season, before the Pteleas had leafed out, on new growth on the rues and the orange tree - these make new growth early each spring. Most of the Pteleas are real slow to get new growth in the spring, although a few behave differently from the rest and get new leaves fairly early - there's no rhyme or reason to it. I've had a 'Meyer Improved' lemon, and it was so puny and got so damaged by even minor frosts that I got rid of it. I only found one or two giant swallowtail cats on it the entire time I had it. I read an article about citrus trees, and it said that 'Louisiana Sweet' oranges and 'Owari' satsumas are the most cold hardy of the citrus trees, and that 'Louisiana Sweet' is very vigorous - I can attest to that! I'm really too far north to be growing citrus, but it's working out with this one. Sherry
...See More
Butterflies and Rain
Q
Comments (4)
msrpaul Wish I could send you some of our rain. We've officially received 15.62 so far this month when the average is 5.30. I've grown a little tired of cloudy skies and rain drenched days. The sun did come out most of the day today. Last summer was the driest since the bust bowl days. We had a burn ban the entire growing season and many different fire departments from all over the country were here fighting the the fires that covered the state. If it's not one, it's the other. Found a few monarch eggs in the pasture today and actually saw monarchs. I had almost forgot what they looked like. :-) MissSherry, Nice photos! randy
...See More
Finally saw one!
Q
Comments (5)
Wonderful shots Bob! Love the blue hairs! Like you, I have only ever seen ONE in my yard, so how common could they be, right? :o) I love the wonderful checkered pattern. Angie
...See More
susanlynne48
12 years ago
It is popular with the "smaller" butterflies, like the Hairstreaks, Blues, and Skippers. It's also a great bee plant and with the issues in the bee populations, I'm trying to also include more of those in the garden. They really love this one, too, but they are good about sharing with the butterflies. The Pyramid Bush is also a good bee plant and small butterfly plant. It is not hardy here, but I hope I can save some seeds. It sure is pretty and it is just constantly in bloom and no deadheading necessary.

The Mountain Mint (and there are several native to the Eastern US) that I have is Pycnanthemum muticum. It is very pretty, with large, glossy green leaves, and bracts that turn a pretty silvery white. Looks like it's covered in a layer of ice.

Susan
jrcagle
12 years ago
I'm curious about the orange on the genitalia. It looks like orange scales in the picture. Is that correct?

Also, the genitalia look like claspers, which would indicate male in non-skippers at least. Is that true for skippers as well? Or am I seeing it wrong?

Jeff
MissSherry
Original Author
12 years ago
I noticed the yellow and red blob on the rear end of the female after I posted it, Jeff. I don't know what it is, but it looks like liquid to me.
I'm sure that the one with his wings spread is a male, because of the blue hairs, and the one with the yellow on her rear was much plainer, no blue hairs.
I don't see anything that looks like claspers to me - where do you see claspers?
Sherry
jrcagle
12 years ago
I may be seeing it wrong. In the picture, it looks like orange on the bottom and then a bifurcated structure on the top.

Jeff

Checkered Skippers

Comments (6)

susanlynne48

MissSherry
Original Author

Related Discussions

susanlynne48

jrcagle

MissSherry
Original Author

jrcagle

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Checkered Skippers

Comments (6)

susanlynne48

MissSherryOriginal Author

Related Discussions

susanlynne48

jrcagle

MissSherryOriginal Author

jrcagle

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

MissSherry
Original Author

MissSherry
Original Author