At least a skipperling

As I wandered along the trail on August 19th at Hamilton Pool Preserve, I noticed a small orange butterfly on a bedraggled leaf tip of a beargrass plant (which is in the genus Nolina). I thought it might be a least skipperling, Ancyloxypha numitor, but on September 14th Dan Hardy (thanks) of the Austin Butterfly Forum told me that this little butterfly is most likely an orange skipperling, Copaeodes aurantiacus. According to Stephen G. Williams, as mentioned by John Tveten in his book about butterflies of Houston, this is the most common skipperling in Austin. The two tiny “horns” on the butterfly’s face between its eyes are still puzzling.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman