Oslar's Roadside Skipper
Amblyscirtes oslari (Skinner, 1899)

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Diagnosis: The upperside of both wings is orange brown, with no pale spots and a very small, darker male stigma. Beneath, the wings are tawny grey, with a pale-greyish median band on each wing. Wingspan: 22 to 26 mm.

Range: Amblyscirtes oslari flies in a narrow area from Texas to North Dakota. It reaches Canada only in extreme southern Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Similar Species: The Dun Skipper (Euphyes vestris) has a larger stigma in the male and the underside is dark purplish brown, without the hoary grey dusting of oslari. [compare images]

Early Stages: The larva is light yellow green with a black head (Bird et al., 1995). The foodplant is believed to be Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis) (Opler and Malikul, 1992).

Abundance: Very rare in Canada, uncommon farther south.

Flight Season: There is one flight per year in Canada, in June and early July; several generations occur farther south.

Habits: Amblyscirtes oslari is found in dry short-grass prairie, seemingly preferring eroded habitats such as gullies, steep banks, and canyon bottoms.

© 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.