Finding one of these exotic-looking skippers is usually the highlight of any butterfly outing. Overwintering Stage: Not known to overwinter in NJ.Ĭomments: No other spreadwing skipper in NJ is tailed or shows that iridescent blue above. Larval Food Plants: Various legumes (peas and beans), including tick-trefoils ( Desmodium). The long-tailed skipper is a spread-winged skipper butterfly found throughout tropical and subtropical South America, south to Argentina and north into the. Habitat: This butterfly cannot survive in cold weather and is usually found in Texas and Florida.
The body and wing bases are bluish-green or iridescent green. The Long-Tailed Skipper is a medium size butterfly with a hairy body and long hindwing tails. Because each print is watercolored by hand, it is impossible to show exact images of what any given painted print might look like.
#Long tailed skipper series
Extreme dates: North Jersey 7/29-10/8 South Jersey 8/12-11/9. Long-tailed Skipper was first figured in the 1780s by artist-naturalist John Abbot, working in Georgia, whose drawings and notes were published as The. This is a first spotting for me of this long-tailed skipper butterfly. Urbanus proteus proteus (Linnaeus, 1758) Long-tailed Skipper continental E USA, S CA, S AZ, S NM, TX to Argentina. Home > Products > Butterfly Series - Long Tailed Skipper Standard prints are Black & White, but they can be watercolored on request (by local artists) for an additional fee. Its silk-screened with black ink on heavy-weight, linen, ivory watercolor. Habitat: Open, often disturbed, areas with abundant flowers, and-most often in NJ-gardens.įlight Period: Most individuals start showing up in late summer and fall (August into October). The meaning of LONG-TAILED SKIPPER is any butterfly of the genus Urbanus or Chioides (family Hesperiidae) marked by a prolongation of the posterior margin. This print is a hand silk-screened reproduction of a Walter Anderson block print. Goes unreported most years from the northern counties. The colorful larvae make shelters on their host plant by folding over sections of individual leaves or weaving several leaves together. The adults regularly visit a variety of small flowers where they can be easily observed. Most often reported from Cape May County, where it occurs annually. Arguably one of our most abundant species, the Long-tailed Skipper is a common sight in most any disturbed habitat or garden. NJ Status and Distribution: A vagrant from the deep south whose numbers fluctuate. Habitat and Distribution: Widespread throughout the Keys and can be found in most months. dorantes is a similar species that is brown on top with cream colored dots on forewing. proteus has distinctly darker bands on ventral side and green coloration on dorsal side. When tailless could be mistaken for a cloudywing, but shows much more contrast on HW. Description: 20-25 mm - one of two long tailed skippers in Florida. Below: FW and HW brown with 2 darker brown bands across HW. Long, broad tails on HW are distinctive when present, but may be missing. Above: FW and HW dark brown, with pale, squarish, translucent spots in FW (including a median band), and iridescent blue on inner wings, most intense on the HW.
Identification: Small-1.8" (almost as large as Silver-spotted Skipper).