100 More Species #28: Silver-spotted skipper

[urbpan]

Silver-spotted skipper Epargyreus clarus

The silver-spotted skipper is one of the largest most conspicuously-marked of this family of small fast-moving butterflies. The body can be a much darker chocolate brown (in fact, the illustration in the Audubon Guide to New England is so dark that the animal is hard to recognize) but the silver spot on the wing is consistent--irregular, but consistently so. The larva of this butterfly is nocturnal and feeds on leguminous plants that are easy to come by in the city and suburbs, like locust trees, and groundnut, and wisteria. I learn from the caterpillar guide we use, that the larva is anatomically adapted to expel a fecal pellet up to 38 body-lengths away from itself. THAT'S going in the podcast.