All skippers have moth-like bodies that are thick and furry. Their wings are triangular and their antennae end in knobs with tiny hooks. Their name comes from the description of their flight pattern of darting from one place to another. Their caterpillars have smooth skins and large heads.

The photograph above is of a female tropical checkered skipper resting on a leaf in the Conservancy garden. Females have darker hairs on the uppersides of their wings than do the males with their long, bluish-white hairs. Although no eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalises of tropical checkered skippers have been observed in the gardens, they may be present. The egg is a pale green color, laid singly. One of its larval host plants is arrowleaf sida (Sida rhombifolia), growing in Garden 9.

Tropical checkered caterpillars are light green with black heads. Their bodies are covered with light-colored hairs. They feed on tender new leaves of members of the mallow or hibiscus family, and they construct shelters by folding two or more leaves together and tying them with silk.

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Links:

Index to Butterfly and Moth Visitors to Gardens

Index To Photographs of Plants in the Gardens

Plant Lists by Garden

Conservancy of SW Florida Butterfly Garden Home Page

Conservancy of SW Florida Home Page.

Please report errors to Susan Snyder at ssnyder2@columbus.rr.com