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Dorantes Longtail (Urbanus dorantes [Stoll])
Wing span: 1 7/16 - 2 inches (3.7 - 5.1 cm).
Identification: Tails are long; fringes checkered. Body and wings are brown with no green iridescence. Forewing has prominent clear spots. Underside of hindwing has 2 bands of pale spots.
Life history: The Dorantes Longtail Skipper feeds at flowers in the winter, but spends most of the time perching upside down under leaves.
Flight: Three to four broods throughout the year in south Florida and South Texas.
Caterpillar hosts: Various legumes including wild and cultivated beans (Phaseolus), beggar's ticks (Desmodium), and blue peas (Clitoria).
Adult food: Flower nectar from shepherd's needle, lantana, trilisa, ironweed, bougainvillea, and others.
Habitat: Roadsides, overgrown fields, edges of woods, clearings and along trails in hardwood hammocks.
Range: Argentina north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to South Texas and peninsular Florida. Strays north to northern California, southern Arizona, southern Missouri, and southern Georgia.
Conservation: Not usually required.
The Nature Conservancy Global Rank: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may 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.
Smith, D. S., L. D. Miller, and J. Y. Miller. 1994. The butterflies of the West
Indies and South Florida. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 264 pages, 32
color plates.
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).]
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