Delaware skipper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Delaware skipper |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Anatrytone
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| Species: |
logan
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The Delaware skipper (Anatrytone logan) is a cool North American butterfly. It belongs to a group called "grass skippers." You can find this butterfly in parts of Canada, like the southern Canadian Prairies and southern Ontario. It also lives across the central and eastern United States.
What Does the Delaware Skipper Look Like?
Both male and female Delaware skippers are a bright yellow-orange color. They have black edges and dark brown lines on their wings. The black edges are wider on the front and back parts of their hindwings (the back wings). If you look underneath their wings, they are mostly yellow-orange. They have just a thin dark line on the front wing. These butterflies are pretty small. Their wingspan (how wide their wings are when spread out) is about 2.5 to 4.3 centimeters. That's about the length of a few paperclips!
Where Do Delaware Skippers Live and What Do They Eat?
Delaware skippers love places that are a bit wet. This includes marshes and even gardens in towns. They are active for most of the year! In warmer places, they can have many groups of babies (called "broods") from February all the way to October. But in northern areas, they usually have just one brood during the summer.
Adult Delaware skippers are like tiny gardeners, helping flowers! They drink nectar from flowers, especially pink and white ones. Some of their favorite flowers include milkweeds, mountain mints, and thistles. The baby skippers, called caterpillars, munch on different types of grasses. They especially like big bluestem and switchgrass.
