New Jersey Butterfly Club

Dion Skipper

Euphyes dion

Identification: Small—FW 0.7" (but large for a grass-skipper). Above: Male FW has orange field with broad, dark trailing margin; a straight, narrow stigma with curved, hooklike mark attached to outer end crosses the orange field. Female FW is dark with a transverse row of whitish or tawny marks. On both sexes an orange streak on the HW above mirrors the ventral pattern. Below: Sexes similar. HW bright tawny with 2 lengthwise rays—a thick central ray that does not reach the trailing wing edge, and a thinner, less obvious ray along most of the inner wing margin. Similar skippers: Black Dash male above is very similar, perhaps best told by the blotch (rather than streak) on HW that mirrors ventral mark. Female above may have smaller, whiter marks on FW than Dion, and likewise a streak rather than a blotch on the HW. On the larger Broad-winged Skipper the HW below has a single ray that is usually crossed by other marks. Aaron's Skipper (generally confined to vicinity of coastal marshes) is duller olive-brown on HW below, with a single, central pale ray.

NJ Status and Distribution: Resident. Uncommon to rare and local.

Habitat: Various kinds of open, sedgy wetlands, from calcareous fens to acid bogs to brackish marshes.

Flight Period: One brood early July to mid-August, peaking in early to mid-July. Extreme dates: North Jersey 6/20—8/6; South Jersey 6/27—8/22.

Caterpillar Food Plants: Sedges (Carex and Scirpus).

Overwintering Stage: 3rd-instar caterpillar.

Good Locations: Great Swamp NWR, Troy Meadows, Jamesburg Park Conservation Area, Pigeon Swamp WMA, Franklin-Parker Preserve, Wharton SF, Lizard Tail Swamp WMA, Hand Ave., Glades Preserve.

Comments: Very fond of nectaring on Pickerelweed.