Pahaska Skipper (Hesperia pahaska Luessler)
Wing span: 1 1/4 - 1 5/8 inches (3.2 - 4.2 cm).
Identification: Upperside is yellow-orange with wide black borders. Male has yellow felt in the forewing stigma. Underside of hindwing is orange-brown with a short band of white spots.
Life history: To wait for receptive females, males perch on hilltops all day. Females deposit eggs singly on or near the host plants; caterpillars feed on leaves and take shelter in tied-together leaves. Caterpillars hibernate.
Flight: One brood from May-July in the north; two broods from April-October in the south.
Caterpillar hosts: Various grasses including blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and fluff grass (Erioneuron pulchellum).
Adult food: Flower nectar.
Habitat: Short-grass prairie foothills, open pine forest, chaparral, desert grassland.
Range: Through the Rocky Mountain range from central Montana and northwest North Dakota south to central Mexico; west to southeast California. A stray to northwest Minnesota.
