• Butterflies
• Dragonflies
• Damselflies
• Tiger beetles
• Hike with Mike

• The butterflies:
• Skippers
  • Spread-wing Skippers
  • Skipperlings
  • Grass-Skippers
• Grass-Skippers
  • Swarthy Skipper
  • Least Skipper
  • Poweshiek Skipperling
  • European Skipper
  • Fiery Skipper
  • Common Branded Skipper
  • Ottoe Skipper
  • Leonard’s Skipper
  • Cobweb Skipper
  • Indian Skipper
  • Peck’s Skipper
  • Tawny-edged Skipper
  • Crossline Skipper
  • Long Dash
  • Northern Broken-Dash
  • Little Glassywing
  • Sachem
  • Delaware Skipper
  • Byssus Skipper
  • Mulberry Wing
  • Hobomok Skipper
  • Broad-winged Skipper
  • Dion Skipper
  • Black Dash
  • Two-spotted Skipper
  • Dun Skipper
  • Dusted Skipper
  • Pepper and Salt Skipper
  • Common Roadside-Skipper
  • Eufala Skipper
  • Arogos Skipper

Tawny-edged Skipper

(Polites themistocles)

The Tawny-edged Skipper is not a common butterfly where I live in central Wisconsin. I found it interesting that Ebner in his 1970 book “Butterflies of Wisconsin” said that it was “one of the most common in the state”. I had seen one or two individuals on only a hand full of times until 2005, when I saw it in Door, Buffalo, Jackson, and Green Counties, including over 10 individuals in Door County. This certainly doesn’t make it a common species, but it is to be expected in drier habitats throughout the state.

Identifying characteristics: A small skipper, similar in size to the Peck’s Skipper. Below, this skipper is somewhat variable and the typical fresh specimen is somewhat buff colored with a very contrasting orange on the forewing and usually without a spot band on the hindwing. More worn individuals are a paler brownish gray as in the bottom two photos. Above, the male has a stigma that separates the orange to yellow of the outer wing from the darker color of the inner wing. There is usually a small, rectangular lighter spot at the end of the stigma. The female has a little less orange than the male, no stigma, and a couple of orange spots in the center of the hind wing.

Similar species: The Crossline Skipper is very similar to this species. In the “Butterflies of Wisconsin” Ebner states, “The Crossline Skipper is an almost exact enlargement of the Tawny-edged Skipper.” I saw my first Crossline Skippers in 2006 and the fresh males that I saw and photographed looked very different to me than the male Tawny-edged Skippers. On the hind wing below the Crossline Skippers had a lighter color and spots that the Tawny-edged do not usually have. In addition there was no contrasting orange in the forewing below. Above, the stigma appeared longer and straighter because of an additional dark marking that is found at the end of the stigma. They also did appear to be somewhat larger than the Tawny-edged Skippers. I am not 100% sure of my identifications of the bottom two skippers. I was not able to see the upper wings of either of these, despite spending nearly an hour with the bottom one hoping to see and photograph the upper wings. Both of these showed orange that did contrast with the rest of the forewing below and I feel that they were smaller and did not appear to me to be anything like the Crossline Skippers that I have seen and photographed. Notice the spots on the hindwing below on the last photo and compare it to the photos of the Crossline and you will notice that they do not seem to be the same kind of spots. I don’t know how significant these are and I am hoping to get more photos of these two species in 2007. There is a lot of variation in both of these species and worn, older individual males may be impossible to identify without getting good looks at the wings from both above and from below.

Habitat: Old fields, open areas, roadsides, and pastures. Some references say that they prefer moister conditions, but I have only seen it in drier areas.

Flight: At least two broods. It can be found from early June to late September. In 2006 it was sighted first on June 16 and second generation individuals were seen on August 15.

Abundance: Widely distributed, but not usually seen in large numbers.

Early Tawny-edged Skipper sightings, all years

Date seen	County	Reported by
05–21–2007	Lafayette	Todd Sima
05–27–2007	Iowa	Karl and Dorothy Legler
05–30–2007	Lafayette	Todd Sima
06–01–2007	Iowa	Ann Thering
06–15–2007	Lafayette	Todd Sima
06–16–2006	Bayfield	Mike Reese

Submit a Tawny-edged Skipper sighting »