Dun skipper

Dun skipper is a small, dark, nondescript grass skipper. It has a wingspan of 1⅛″ to 1⅜″.

The male is dark blackish-brown all over. There is a black stigma on the forewing that appears as a dark diagonal band but no other markings.

The female has small two pale spots on the upper side of the forewing that are even smaller on the underside. The underside of the hindwing may also have a faint spot band.

The antennae are short and faintly striped. Each antenna has a black swelling (club) at the tip, and a pale, thin, hooked extension (apiculus) at the end of the club.

The caterpillar is pale green, slender, and up to 1″ long. The head is burnt cienna with a central black spot, a horseshoe-shaped white mark partially surrounding the black spot, and a pair of white lines running from the back of the head to the eyes. The thorax and abdomen are pale green with a slightly darker middorsal line and sometimes darker middorsal and subdorsal pinstrip lines. The breathing pore (spiracle) on the eighth abdominal segment is conspicuously enlarged. On the rear (posterior) half of abdominal segments 1 through 8 there are seven shallow ring-like creases (annulations). The preceding description could easily be made for all other Euphyes caterpillars. Identification is best made by rearing them into adults.

Mature caterpillars are seen from late summer to late fall and early spring.

Wingspan: 1⅛″ to 1⅜″

Northern broken-dash, Dun skipper, and little glassywing are called “the three witches” because their dark wings make it difficult to tell “which one is which.”

Moist areas near deciduous woods

One generation: Late June to late August.

Sedges and possibly some grasses

Nectar of white, pink, and purple flowers

Sources

7, 21, 27, 29, 30, 71, 75, 82, 83.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 7/1/2025).

Skippers have traditionally been placed in their own superfamily Hesperioidea because of their morphological similarity. Recent phylogenetic analysis (Kawahara and Breinholt [2014]) suggests that they share the same common ancestor as other butterfly families, and thus belong in the superfamily, Papilionoidea.

Prairie Life: Dun Skipper
Carl Barrentine

Finding Dun Skipper Pupal Nests
Todd Stout