Dion Skipper (Euphyes dion [W. H. Edwards])
Wing span: 1 7/16 - 1 3/4 inches (3.7 - 4.5 cm).
Identification: Upperside of male forewing is dark brown with a central orange area and a black stigma; female forewing is dark brown with light orange spots. Hindwing is dark brown with a wide orange streak. Underside of hindwing is red-brown or orange-brown with 2 yellow-orange streaks running from the base to the margins.
Life history: Males have a very quick flight, are territorial, and perch in marshes in the afternoons to await females; sometimes they patrol in the late morning. Third-stage caterpillars hibernate, emerge in the spring to complete feeding, and pupate in nests of leaves and silk.
Flight: One brood in the north from July-early August; two broods in the south from May-September.
Caterpillar hosts: Various sedges including woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus), hairy sedge (Carex lacustris), and shoreline sedge (Carex hyalinolepis).
Adult food: Nectar from flowers of pickerelweed, sneezeweed, buttonbush, Alsike clover, and others.
Habitat: Swamps, open marshes, and bogs.
Range: Scattered populations along the Atlantic coast from western Massachusetts and southeastern New York south to northeastern Florida, west to northeast Texas, and north to southeastern North Dakota, northern Wisconsin, southern Ontario, and southern Quebec.
Conservation: Not usually required.
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:
Ebner, J.A. 1970. Butterflies of Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum Popular Science Handbook No. 12. 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.