Sachem Skippers (Atalopedes campestris)

Mating Sachem Skippers (Atalopedes campestris) on garlic chives.  (Male is on the right.)

Range: Southern United States from Virginia west to California; south through Mexico and Central America to Brazil. Strays and colonizes north to central North Dakota, southern Michigan, Manitoba, and northern Pennsylvania.

Life history: Males perch on or near the ground during most of the day to wait for receptive females. Females lay single eggs on dry grass blades in the afternoon. Caterpillars feed on leaves and live at the base of grasses in shelters of rolled or tied leaves.

Please see Nearctica and/or BugGuide for complete species details.

(Thanks to Doug Taron for the ID on BugGuide.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

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Sachem Skippers (Atalopedes campestris)

Skipper - Sachem (Atalopedes campestris)

Skipper - Sachem (Atalopedes campestris)

One of the multitude of the little brown/tan Skippers that skip from flower to flower.  This male was on one of the zinnia that add color to our veggie garden.  

Sachems can be found in almost any open space: fields, meadows, parks, roadsides, disturbed areas, lawns, etc.  They are a residents in the southeastern United States, and extreme southwest into Mexico. In the fall they migrate  northward into great plains, along west coast, rarely reaching southern Canada.

Thanks to Herschel Raney on BugGuide for the ID.

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Skipper - Sachem (Atalopedes campestris)