![]() Overall, their population is highly disjunct. ![]() Mardon skippers primarily occur in a few small, isolated populations. Weather influences butterfly emergence and the flight period duration, with wet or cold conditions delaying emergence.īoth males and females feed by using their long proboscis to sip floral nectar. Males begin emergence first, followed by females late-season individuals are primarily or solely females. Hesperiinae larvae create shelters formed by webbing their hostplant grass blades together, and their prepupal larvae construct strong silken shelters in hostplant grasses in which pupation occurs. These species overwinter as larvae.Īdults emerge from their chrysalids (pupae) during May through June. Skipper larvae conceal themselves in silken shelters and primarily feed at night. Males that detect females commence courtship behavior when males detect another male they engage in a territory defense behavior of tight, upward spiraling flight.įemales search for egg-laying sites by slowly flying and hovering just above hostplant vegetation and then depositing single eggs. Male skippers seek mates by perching on low vegetation and then darting out to inspect passing butterflies. These skippers complete a single life cycle annually (univoltine).They are sedentary butterflies and do not migrate instead, the species inhabits sites year-round (as egg, larva, pupa and adult), typically moving within only a few hundred meters of their natal locations.Īn adult mardon skipper exploring a flower for nectar. The historical and ongoing loss of montane meadow habitat is well-documented. In the southeastern Cascade Mountains, mardon skippers are found in meadows in an otherwise forested landscape a variety of grasses and sedges are used for egg-laying (and larval hosts) and females select for large, well developed plants. Mardon skippers on two south Sound prairies oviposited (laid eggs) on Roemer’s fescue, and females selected for small, mostly green fescue plants, in sparse, short-statured, and open-structured vegetation. In south Puget Sound grasslands, mardon skippers use open, grass dominated habitat with abundant Roemer’s Fescue interspersed with early blue violet and select early blue violet and common vetch as nectar sources. Adult mardon skippers select for short, open-structured, native fescue grasslands, which provide access to nectar and oviposition plants and a requisite thermal environment. The mardon skipper is a small, tawny-orange butterfly with a stout, hairy body.
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