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European Skipper’s preferred foodplant is Timothy Grass, grown for hay. In the Algonquin Highlands area, you will find it in parks and gardens, forest trails and clearings, marshes, bog edges, and roadsides, from early June to mid-July.
Its wing span is 1.9-25 cm. The wings are brassy-orange with a narrow dark/black border. The veins darkened above, more pronounced on the female.
Eggs are laid in groups of up to 30 in strings on the host plant stem. These overwinter and hatch the following spring. Among North American skippers this is the only species whose eggs hibernate. Caterpillars are green with a dark dorsal stripe and a whitish subdorsal and lateral stripe; the head is whitish green with three vertical reddish-brown bars with two white bars between them. They eat the Timothy grass leaves and live in shelters made from leaves tied together with silk. Adult European Skippers roost at night on grass stalks and, in the morning, bask with their wings at a 70 degree angle.
Adults feed on nectar from low-growing flowers including Common Milkweed, Ox-eye Daisy, and Thistles.
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EUROPEAN SKIPPER
Thymelicus lineola
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