Taxiles Skipper
Poanes taxiles
Description 1 1/4-1 3/8" (32-35 mm). Male above brilliant, light brass-gold with narrow, scalloped, dark margin; female mixed brown and tawny-orange. Below, FW tawny-orange with violet tip (more pronounced in female); male has light yellow crossbars on brown HW; female has vague, angled row of small gold spots across violet-brown HW disk.
Similar Species Yuma Skipper male yellower above, with darker, larger stigma, and plainer below; female uniformly colored.
Life Cycle Unrecorded.
Flight 1 brood; June-July.
Habitat Shaded gullies and valley bottoms, grassy areas near waterways, and pine forest clearings.
Range Nevada east to Wyoming, Dakotas, and Nebraska, south to New Mexico, Arizona, and NW. Mexico.
Discussion This big, bright skipper is active in cloudier weather than most butterflies will tolerate. The Taxiles Skipper is the only truly western member of its genus.
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