North American Butterflies and Moths List

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Butterflies of North America

Butterflies of Virginia

Yehl Skipper (Poanes yehl)
JPG -- species photo

Yehl Skipper (Poanes yehl [Skinner])

Wing span: 1 5/16 - 1 3/4 inches (3.4 - 4.5 cm).

Identification: Upperside is bright orange with wide dark borders; male forewing has a distinct linear stigma. Underside of hindwing is dark brown (female) or orange (males); both with 3-5 pale median spots.

Life history: To await females, males perch about 3 feet above the ground on sunlit vegetation.

Flight: Two broods from late May to mid-June and from mid-August to mid-November.

Caterpillar hosts: Probably cane (Arundinaria species).

Adult food: Nectar from flowers including sweet pepperbush, chinquapin, pickerelweed, and swamp milkweed.

Habitat: Clearings in wet or swampy woodlands.

Range: Southeast Virginia west to southwest Missouri; south to east Texas, the Gulf Coast, and northern Florida.

Conservation: Populations should be monitored because of gradual draining and conversion of habitats.

The Nature Conservancy Global Rank: G4 - Apparently secure globally, though it might be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

Management needs: None reported.

References:


Opler, P. A. and G. O. Krizek. 1984. Butterflies east of the Great Plains. Johns 

     Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 294 pages, 54 color plates.



Opler, P. A. and V. Malikul. 1992. A field guide to eastern butterflies. Peterson 

     field guide #4. Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston. 396 pages, 48 color plates.



Scott, J. A. 1986. The butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, 

     Stanford, Calif. 583 pages, 64 color plates.



Stanford, R. E. and P. A. Opler. 1993. Atlas of western USA butterflies including 

     adjacent parts of Canada and Mexico. Denver and Fort Collins, CO. 

Author: Jane M. Struttmann

State and Regional References:


Glassberg,  J.  1993.  Butterflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to 

     Butterflies in the Boston-New York-Washington Region.  Oxford Univ. Press, 

     New York, N.Y.  160 pp.    



Clark, A.H. and Clark, L.F. 1951.  The Butterflies of Virginia.  Smithsonian

     Miscellaneous collection No. 116:1-239.



Layberry, R.A., Hall, P.W. & Lafontaine, D.J., 1998.  The Butterflies of 

     Canada.  University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON.  280 pp. 

     

Opler, P.A. 1998. A field guide to eastern butterflies, revised format.

     Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.     



Woodbury, E.N.  1994.  Butterflies of Delmarva.  Delaware Nature Society, Inc., 

     Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, MD.  138 pp.  [NOTE: this book only 

     treats True Butterflies (Papilionoidea).  It does not treat Skippers 

     (Hesperioidea).]

Yehl Skipper (Poanes yehl)
distribution map
map legend

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