Hesperia uncas

Hesperia uncas, the Uncas skipper or white-vein skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from US Midwest to southern portions of the three Canadian Prairie provinces, north as far as Edmonton, Alberta.[1]

Uncas skipper
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Hesperia
Species:
H. uncas
Binomial name
Hesperia uncas
Subspecies

4 subspecies, see text

Synonyms
  • Hesperia unkas Mabille, (misspelled)
  • Hesperia uncus F. M. Brown, Eff & Rotger, 1956, (misspelled)
  • Erynnis uncas Dyar, 1903

The wingspan is 32–42 mm. There are two generations per year with adults on wing from May to June and again from August to September, in Canada from mid-June to late July.[1] It is found in sandy areas, open woodlands, and sagebrush.[2]

The larvae feed on Deschampsia elongata, Stipa, Bromus rubens, and Poa pratensis. Adults feed on flower nectar from various flowers, including rabbitbrush, needlegrass (Stipa nevadensis), and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis).[3]

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:[3]

  • H. u. fulvapalla Austin & McGuire, 1998
  • H. u. gilberti MacNeill, 1964
  • H. u. giuliani Austin & McGuire, 1998
  • H. u. grandiosa Austin & McGuire, 1998
  • H. u. lasus (Edwards, 1884)
  • H. u. macswaini MacNeill, 1964
  • H. u. reeseorum Austin & McGuire, 1998
  • H. u. terraclivosa Austin & McGuire, 1998
  • H. u. uncas Edwards, 1863

References
  1. Uncas Skipper, Butterflies of Canada
  2. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
  3. Hesperia, funet.fi


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