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seniorballoon

What is this insect, moth, butterfly?

4 years ago

We have quite a few of these feasting on our mint. They are small, with wings spread maybe an inch across. Very hard to get a photo with the wings spread open.



Comments (9)

  • 4 years ago

    It's a skipper, but I don't know which. Kinda between moths and butterflies.

  • 4 years ago

    Moths and butterflies are very closely related but perhaps the easiest way to tell them apart is that moths are active at night (nocturnal) and butterflies during the day (diurnal). This also accounts for their difference in coloring, as moths hide/rest during the day and need to be inconspicuous to avoid predators.

    That looks like one of the Sulphur butterflies that are native to this area, perhaps a Western Sulphur.

    Skippers are diurnal so they are butterflies. But they also have distinct markings, which Sulphurs generally lack. Pretty sure this is not a skipper.

  • PRO
    4 years ago

    Mr. Balloon:


    Your insect is a skipper butterfly, most likely the exceedingly common (and widespread in the PNW) Woodland Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanoides. The lighter golden patches on the underwings fit the pattern for this species.


    https://bugguide.net/node/view/189/tree

    ^ Skippers classified as butterflies, but often with the "and skippers" afterthought.


    Your skipper image lacks the small eyespots, well-rounded forewing tips, and the size (compared to a mint blossom, and wings described as one inch) of the Sulphur butterflies.


    And your skipper is not in the spread-wing skipper subfamily, but is in the folded-wing group, so no luck seeing open wings when landed.


  • 4 years ago

    You've got some differing opinions so I'd suggest you do an image search for both species and then you decide what you have :-) Western skippers are heavily marked compared to the sulphurs and not really yellow at all. Your photo is showing something quite distinct from that. Sizes are very similar so would not decide based on that flimsy criteria.

  • PRO
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    ...but it is a majority opinion. Even the casual insect hobbyist or butterfly watcher can tell the difference between the pictured skipper and the various sulphurs.

    The above image is overexposed; turning down the brightness in a photo editor reveals the tans and markings.

    The sulphurs have wingspans of over two inches and overall would be at least 5X the size of the above skipper. There are a couple of sulphur species that are tiny, but they do not occur in our region.

    The OP did not describe the flight of these insects (they are named after their flight habit), but he likely noticed that they darted and skipped around, unlike pierids (cabbage white, sulphurs, etc.) that fly noticeably slower and more erratically.

  • 4 years ago

    These do skitter and skip about, but when I look at pics it's a bit different than either, though that could be my low quality photography skills. :o) But based on the flight I'd say Skipper.


    I've seen these many times, but never knew what they were. As a child we would catch them and stick pins through them in a collection, childhood trophy's. I stopped as one day when I grabbed on I got stung. I'm fairly certain it wasn't the Skipper, but their may gave been a Little Buddy, though I never saw it, and a bee was the most likely culprit. Still I never tried to catch another...with my bare hands.

  • 4 years ago

    I don't know.


    But that thing has the big fat head of a skipper. :P

  • 4 years ago

    That's the one. They look like they're wearing headphones.