European skipper

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNA - Not applicable
SNA - Not applicable

Minnesota

not listed

Description

European skipper is an exotic, small grass skipper with a wingspan of ¾″ to 1⅛″. It is native to Europe and Asia, where it is known as Essex skipper. It was introduced into Ontario in 1910, and has since been spreading about 20 miles per year. It is common in Minnesota.

The upperside of the both wings is mostly bright, brassy orange. There is a thin black margin at the tip and a very thin black margin at the upper edge. The veins are slightly darkened near the margin. There is no black cell end bar. There is a very thin black stigma on forewing of the male. There is usually a thin vertical black line at the end of the forewing cell of the female. The wings are otherwise unmarked.

The underside of the forewing is orange, that of the hindwing is grayish-brown. The underside of both wings has a powdery, whitish tint. The wingtips are rounded, not pointed.

The antennae are short, barred, reddish, and blunt-tipped.

The caterpillar is green, slender, and up to 1″ long. The head is pale green with a central, inverted Y shaped stripe, and two wide, vertical, white stripes. The white stripes are sometimes bordered by narrower, black stripes. There is no constricted section (“neck”) between the head and the first thoracic segment. There is a narrow, green, vertical stripe on the middle of the upper (dorsal) surface extending from the second thoracic segment across all abdominal segments. On each side of this middorsal stripe is a pale greenish-white stripe. There is also a whitish subdorsal stripe and a whitish lateral stripe. There is a white wax gland along the bottom of each side of abdominal sections 7 and 8. The thorax and abdomen are moderately covered with white hairs and sparsely covered with contrasting rust-colored hairs. Mature caterpillars are seen in early spring.

Size

Wingspan: ¾″ to 1⅛″

Similar Species

Habitat

Open, dry, grassy areas. Meadows, pastures, forest openings, parks, roadsides, railways.

Ecology

Season

One generation per year: Early June to mid-July

Behavior

Like all skippers, they have a rapid, darting flight.

Life Cycle

The females lay a row of up to 30 eggs on a host plant. The eggs overwinter and hatch in the spring

Larva Food/Hosts

Timothy (Phleum pratense), orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata glomerata), quackgrass (Elymus repens), rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides), and bluegrass (Poa spp.).

Adult Food

Flower nectar

Distribution

Sources

7, 21, 24, 29, 30, 75, 82, 83.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 12/21/2025).

Quinn, Edward. M., and Ron Danielson. April 27, 2009. A Survey of Lepidoptera in Three Priority Areas of the Minnesota State Parks System. https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/nongame/projects/consgrant_reports/2009
/2009_quinn_danielson.pdf.

Occurrence

Common. Locally abundant.

Where found, this species is often explosively abundant.

Cynthia Schroeder