Gemmed Satyr
Cyllopsis gemm
Description 1 1/4-1 3/8" (32-35 mm). Wings rounded. Above, soft brown with tiny black eyespots on HW margin. Below, gray-brown wave lines; purplish-gray patch on HW margin contains small metallic-blue and silvery eyespots.
Similar Species Carolina Satyr has eyespots below instead of metallic patches, and has stronger dark lines.
Life Cycle Egg globelike, covered with network of lines. Caterpillar light green in early summer, light brown toward fall; both forms are striped with darker lines and have 2 head horns and 2 tails. Chrysalis also green or brown.
Host plants are grasses (Poaceae), including Bermuda grass (Cenodon dactylon) in Texas.
Flight 2 broods; March-October in Georgia, briefer period farther north.
Habitat Shaded, moist, and grassy areas; along streams and ponds in open woods, meadows with water and long grasses; also pine flats.
Range S. Illinois and S. Virginia south to Texas and Mexico and east to central Florida.
Discussion Gemmed Satyrs from Texas and Mexico are redder than those from farther north and east. Although widespread in the sun belt, this species occurs locally and is rarely common. It has been suggested that the caterpillar's change in color, from green in summer to brown in the fall, allows it to blend with the seasonally changing colors of the grasses.
Source
