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Hesperia comma Fabricius, 1793
Common Branded Skipper
Family: Hesperiidae (Skippers)
Species account authors: Crispin Guppy and Jon Shepard.
Extracted from Butterflies of British Columbia.
Introduction to the Lepidoptera of BC
Introduction to the Butterflies of BC
The Families of Lepidoptera of BC

Photograph

© Jeremy Gatten     (Photo ID #6087)

Map

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Distribution of Hesperia comma in British Columbia.
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Source: Butterflies of British Columbia by Crispin Guppy and Jon Shepard © Royal BC Museum

Illustration

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Illustration Source: : Butterflies of British Columbia by Crispin Guppy and Jon Shepard © Royal BC Museum

Species Information


Adult

In the Common Branded Skipper, the postmedian line of white spots on the ventral hindwing is more regular than in the other Hesperia species, and the spots are smaller in proportion to total wing size. The adult males can be reliably separated from the other species in the genus only by examination of the genitalia. In the fall this species can be confused with H. juba. At low elevations the two come in close contact, but at higher elevations in the south Okanagan and in the rest of BC, only H. comma occurs. The Nevada Skipper (H. nevada) occurs as adults earlier than the Common Branded Skipper.

Immature Stages

The egg is white and similar to that of the Juba Skipper (Scott 1992). The mature larva is brownish purple, with black spiracles and an obscure dark dorsal line (Hardy 1954).

Subspecies

The Vancouver Island populations are the distinctive subspecies H.c. oregonia (W.H. Edwards, 1883) (TL: Trinity Co., CA), which is found west of the Cascade Mountains from northern California to Vancouver Island. The Oregon Skipper is characterized by a richer brown ground colour on the ventral hindwing. Populations on southern Vancouver Island are now rare because of land alienation. Peace River populations are a disjunct distribution of the Canadian Prairie subspecies H.c. assiniboia (Lyman, 1892) (TL: Regina, SK). The Assiniboian Skipper is distinguished by the very lightly coloured ventral hindwing and the almost complete lack of a contrasting medial area. The boreal populations are subspecies H.c. manitoba (Scudder, 1874) (TL: Lac la Hache, BC). The populations from the mountains in the southern third of BC are also assigned to H.c. manitoba. The underside of the Manitoba Skipper hindwing has a dark greenish ground colour. The low elevation populations from the Southern Interior and the southern Kootenays are the Great Basin subspecies H.c. harpalus (W.H. Edwards, 1881) (TL: Carson City, NV). The ventral hindwing is lightly coloured as in assiniboia, but the median area is contrasting.

Genus Description


Hesperia refers to the Hesperides, the nymphs who guarded the apples of Hera (Emmet 1991). The genus originally included all the skippers and lycaenids but was later restricted to the skippers and now to just this small number of species.

The genus Hesperia contains 1 Palearctic species, 1 Holarctic species, and 17 Nearctic species. The definitive revision is by MacNeill (1964). The species can often be determined only by dissection of the male genitalia. Three species are known for BC. An additional species, Hesperia uncas W.H. Edwards, 1863, may eventually be found in BC.

The genus Hesperia and the genera Polites and Ochlodes are very similar in general appearance. Hesperia males can be distinguished by the black stigma on the dorsal forewing: in Hesperia it is one long black line, whereas in Polites and Ochlodes it is two separate black areas that are narrowly separated from each other. In the field these three closely related genera can often be separated by their flight period and the habitat where they are found. Polites flies generally in June and occupies moist grassy areas, except for P. sabuleti, which is bivoltine in May and late July/early August and is found only in mesic meadows and lawns in the Okanagan. Hesperia is found in dry mesic to xeric areas, the males establishing territories on the tops of ridges. The only species that occurs in June is found in the Okanagan, usually on xeric ridgetops. The other two species fly in spring or after early July. Hesperia larvae appear to be associated with bunchgrasses. Ochlodes flies from late July to mid-September, and the one species is very common. It is not associated with bunchgrasses.

Biology


In southern BC, the Harpalus Skipper flies from early July to early September. The southern, mountain populations of the Manitoba Skipper fly from mid-July to mid-August; in northern BC, this subspecies flies from mid-June to mid-August. The Assiniboian Skipper flies from late July to late August. The Oregon Skipper flies in August but on occasional early warm summers, it can be seen by mid-July. Hardy (1954) reared a single egg of the Oregon Skipper to adult. It hibernated as an egg laid on "lawn" grass on 10 September, and the larva emerged the following 24 April. The larva fed on the grass genera Lolium and Bromus. Throughout development, the larva stayed near the silken cell it had made. If the foodplant became scarce and it had to move, it built another cell. The mature larva pupated on 24 August and the adult emerged on 19 September. J. Pelham (pers. comm.) has reared the Manitoba Skipper at Slate Peak, WA, on Festuca sp. Scott (1992) reported that Carex sp. was the preferred native foodplant in Colorado, and confirmed that the Assiniboian Skipper also overwinters as an egg.

Habitat


The Common Branded Skipper is found throughout BC east of the Coast Ranges, and also on Vancouver Island. The habitat requirements are as varied as the range of the species, but the species always occurs in open, grassy areas where the larval foodplant occurs. South from Williams Lake there are low-elevation populations below 1,000 m and others above 1,700 m. From 1,000 to 1,700 m elevation there is usually no suitable habitat, except for a few south-facing mountain slopes that are bare of trees. Males of the Assiniboian Skipper congregate at the tops of the south-facing banks of the Peace River.

Distribution

Distribution

The Common Branded Skipper occurs across boreal North America from central AK to NF and south to southern CA, NM, MN, and ME. In the Palearctic it is found in the entire boreal area from Scandinavia to the Chersgoga Mountains in eastern Siberia, but not Kamchatka or extreme eastern Siberia.

Status Information

Scientific NameOrigin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)		COSEWIC
Hesperia assiniboiaNativeS2RedNot Listed
Hesperia commaNativeS5YellowNot Listed
Hesperia comma manitobaNativeS5YellowNot Listed



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