Two-spotted Skipper (Euphyes bimacula [Grote & Robinson])
Wing span: 1 1/4 - 1 5/8 inches (3.2 - 4.2 cm).
Identification: Forewings are pointed, fringe is white. Underside of head and body are white. Upperside is dark brown; male forewing with reddish orange patch, female forewing with 2 pale spots. Underside of hindwing is orange-brown with pale veins and a white anal fold.
Life history: Males perch within 3 feet of the ground in sedge marshes to watch for females. Caterpillars eat leaves and live in nests of rolled or tied leaves. Half-grown caterpillars hibernate.
Flight: One brood in the north from June-July; two broods in the south from May-August.
Caterpillar hosts: Hairyfruit sedge (Carex trichocarpa).
Adult food: Nectar from flowers including pickerelweed, sweet pepperbush, blue flag, common milkweed, and spiraea.
Habitat: Marshes, bogs, wet streamsides, and wet sedge meadows.
Range: Northeast Colorado and western Nebraska; eastern Nebraska east to southern Quebec; southern Maine south to central Virginia; coastal plain south to Georgia; the Gulf Coast.
