Black Dash
Euphyes conspicua
Skippers are named for their rapid, skipping flight path, and they hold their wings at a unique angle resembling a jet plane when resting.
- Scientific name
- Euphyes conspicua
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Hesperiidae › Euphyes
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Sedge meadows, fens, bogs, and wet marshes.
- Diet
- Adults feed on nectar from wetland flowers such as swamp milkweed, buttonbush, and pickerelweed; caterpillars feed exclusively on tussock sedge (Carex stricta).
- Range
- Northeastern United States, Midwestern United States, Southern Ontario, Canada
- Size
- Wingspan of 3.0 to 3.8 cm
- Lifespan
- 1 year (with adults living only 2 to 3 weeks)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Wetland drainage, habitat fragmentation, pesticide runoff, and invasive plant species like reed canary grass displacing host sedges.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. If encountered, observe quietly from a distance of 1-2 meters to enjoy their erratic flight. Do not attempt to catch or handle them, as their wings are extremely delicate and easily damaged. No special action is needed if they land on you, but avoid touching their wings.
Euphyes conspicua , the black dash , is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. The species was first described by William Henry Edwards in 1863. It is found in the upper Midwest of North America, from eastern Nebraska east to southern Ontario and along the central Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts south to south-eastern Virginia.
Photo: no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist
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