Grizzled Skipper
Pyrgus centaureae
Description 7/8-1 1/4" (22-32 mm).
Dark brown-black above, with 2 bands of bright
white spots across FW. Pair of tiny white spots a third out from base of FW above are adjacent; uppermost spot, if present, does not extend slightly along, nor even touch, cell. Spot bands become suffused on HW. Olive below; HW crossed by bands on white, the outermost arrayed in zigzag chevrons. Fringes boldly checkered.
Similar Species All other Pyrgus species lack adjacent spots on FW above and/or have upper spots extending to cell. Two-banded Checkered Skipper is rust-tinged on HW below.
Life Cycle Blackberry (Rubus chamaemorus) is host plant in Europe.
Flight 1 brood; May in East, June and July in West and North.
Habitat Hills, heath acid barrens in East; scrub oak openings in Lakes States; also subarctic taiga clearings in far North; above timberline in western mountains.
Range Alaska, Labrador and Gaspe Peninsula, in mountains to New York, North Carolina, Michigan, and Washington. Farther south only in boreal habitats.
Discussion The Grizzled Skipper varies from small and dark in the East to large and pale in the West, and occupies drastically different habitats, from Long Island, New York to Long's Peak, Colorado. In the West, it is strictly an alpine skipper.
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