Hesperia colorado

Western branded skipper
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Hesperia
Species:	H. colorado
Binomial name
Hesperia colorado (Scudder, 1874)
Subspecies
6 ssp., see text
Synonyms
Erynnis comma colorado Dyar, 1903 Hesperia comma colorado

Hesperia colorado, the western branded skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae.

It is found from in Eurasia and north-western Africa, coast to coast in North America in boreal and subalpine areas south as far as Colorado, hence the Latin name.^[1]

The wingspan is 22–30 mm. The flight period is from late June to mid-August in western North America and from late July to early September in eastern North America.^[1]

The larvae feed on Muhlenbergia, Stipa, Andropogon, and Lolium.^[1][2]

Subspecies[]

Listed alphabetically:^[2]

• H. c. colorado (Scudder, 1874)
• H. c. harpalus (Edwards, 1881) – Idaho branded skipper
• H. c. leussleri Lindsey, 1940
• H. c. mattoonorum McGuire, 1998
• H. c. oregonia (Edwards, 1883) – Oregon branded skipper
• H. c. tildeni Freeman, 1956

References[]

External links[]

• Western Branded Skipper, Butterflies and Moths of North America