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Yehl Skipper

(Poanes yehl)

 

 

Yehl Skipper (Poanes yehl [Skinner])

Wing span: 1 5/16 - 1 3/4 inches (3.4 - 4.5 cm).

Identification: Upperside is bright orange with wide dark borders; male forewing has a distinct linear stigma. Underside of hindwing is dark brown (female) or orange (males); both with 3-5 pale median spots.

Life history: To await females, males perch about 3 feet above the ground on sunlit vegetation.

Flight: Two broods from late May to mid-June and from mid-August to mid-November.

Caterpillar hosts: Probably cane (Arundinaria species).

Adult food: Nectar from flowers including sweet pepperbush, chinquapin, pickerelweed, and swamp milkweed.

Habitat: Clearings in wet or swampy woodlands.

Range: Southeast Virginia west to southwest Missouri; south to east Texas, the Gulf Coast, and northern Florida.

 

Yehl Skipper (Poanes yehl)