Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

Dusted Skipper is an uncommon butterfly found only during the spring. The main color is chocolate- brown, with white frosting on the forewings and hindwings, a white comma on the forewing, and a variable number of white spots.

Holly Shelter Game Land, Pender Co., NC 4/19/08.

Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

Similar to the abundant Clouded Skipper, but Dusted Skipper is easily identified if you look for its white "spectacles".

This one landed near me but not in a good position for photographs, so I gently placed my finger under its perch and coaxed it onto my fingertip. It stayed on my fingertip for about 5 minutes as I photographed it and continued hiking!

Holly Shelter Game Land, Pender Co., NC 4/19/08.

Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

There usually is one white spot on the underside of the hindwing, which this individual lacks.

Grayson Co., VA 5/29/05.

Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

Same individual, Grayson Co., VA 5/29/05.

Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

This one has a small white spot.

Franklin Co., NC, 24 April 2002.

Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

Dusteds are fairly rare at the coast. The following two were photographed in Carteret Co., NC, 20 April 2002.

This is a typical looking Dusted Skipper nectaring on Yellow Thistle (Cirsium horridulum).

Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna)

This individual has about half as many white spots as a Loammi Skipper (Atrytonopsis loammi), which is sometimes lumped in with Atrytonopsis hianna.

All photographs and text ©2013 by Will Cook unless otherwise noted.