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Species
Spotlight

Giant Silk
Moth Survey

COBWEB SKIPPER (Hesperia metea)

Identification
Small with short, compact wings. Mostly dark brown above with few light areas; underside of hindwing has white spots along the veins giving it a cobweb appearance.
Massachusetts Butterfly Club photographs

Kaufman's Butterflies of North America, page 316
Glassberg's Butterflies Through Binoculars, plate 58

Habitat in Vermont
Grasslands, old dry fields, the famous “waste places”

Host Plant
Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

Adult Food Preferences
Nectar from flowers of low-growing plants such as Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), Blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis), Birdfoot Violet (Viola pedata), Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris), and Red Clover (Trifolium pratense).

U.S. Distribution

VBS Distribution


VBS Flight Period
Two records:
6/5/2004
6/11/2005

Notes
When seen from below, Cobweb Skipper is like no other skipper in Vermont. But to find it, go south and start early in the season. This is one of our earliest emerging hesperiids, but vanishes quickly after a brief
spring flight. It often flies knee-high at the tops of Little Bluestem grass. Don’t expect big numbers.

Other Atlases
Connecticut
Massachusetts
U.S.A.
Canada (no records)