Common Checkered Skipper
Pyrgus communis (Grote, 1872)

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Diagnosis: This skipper is very similar to P. centaureae, but has larger white areas and, in the male, a bluish-grey ground colour. Wingspan: 23 to 29 mm.

Range: The Common Checkered Skipper flies throughout the continental U.S., and strays into southwestern Ontario, north to Toronto. It is resident in the southern part of the Prairie Provinces north to Mildred Lake, Alberta, and southeastern British Columbia.

Similar Species: The Grizzled Skipper (P. centaureae), the Two-banded Checkered Skipper (P. ruralis), and the Small Checkered Skipper (P. scriptura). [compare images]

Early Stages: Larvae vary in colour from yellowish to greenish-white through brown; they have a dark dorsal stripe and both brown and white lateral stripes. They feed on many species of mallow (Malvaceae), including weedy introduced species. Hibernation is as a mature larvae.

Abundance: This species is sometimes common, especially in late summer in disturbed weedy areas.

Flight Season: There is a long flight period from mid-May to October, with two or three generations per year on the Prairies.

Habits: The Common Checkered Skipper is found in a variety of dry habitats, including open pine woods and prairie hilltops, as well as disturbed areas and roadsides where its weedy foodplants are common.

© 2002. This material is reproduced with permission from The Butterflies of Canada by Ross A. Layberry, Peter W. Hall, and J. Donald Lafontaine. University of Toronto Press; 1998. Specimen photos courtesy of John T. Fowler.

The Toronto Entomologists' Association thanks Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for providing the content and computer code for this web page.