Long-tailed Skipper
Urbanus proteus
The larvae are known as 'bean leafrollers' because they use silk to fold legume leaves into protective daytime shelters.
- Scientific name
- Urbanus proteus
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Hesperiidae › Urbanus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Open fields, forest edges, suburban gardens, and coastal hammocks.
- Diet
- Adults drink nectar from flowers like bougainvillea and shepherd's needle; larvae feed on legumes (beans).
- Range
- Southern United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, Caribbean
- Size
- Wingspan of 4.5 to 5.1 cm
- Lifespan
- 10 to 20 days as an adult butterfly
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Broad-spectrum pesticide use in gardens and large-scale agricultural monocultures.
- Safe to approach?
- Completely harmless and safe to observe from any distance. Avoid touching the wings, as the delicate scales can be easily damaged. No medical action required if contact occurs.
The long-tailed skipper ( Urbanus proteus ) is a spread-winged skipper butterfly found throughout tropical and subtropical South America, south to Argentina and north into the southern part of the United States of America. It cannot live in areas with prolonged frost. It is a showy butterfly, with wings of light brown tinted with iridescent blue, and two long tails extending from the hindwings. The robust body is light blue dorsally. It has a large head, prominent eyes,...
Photo: Mike Boone, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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