Pyrgus communis – Common Checkered Skipper

Caterpillar foods: plants in the Mallow family (Malvaceae); there are few native mallows in Wisconsin, and they are all rare;  most mallows near here are weeds: Cheeses (Malva neglecta), Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), and Dwarf Mallow (Malva rotundifolia)

This is another butterfly that probably doesn’t overwinter in Wisconsin, and repopulates from the south during the summer.  I see it during many summers, but not all – and only at the very end of the season.  In spite of its name, it isn’t very common here.

October 2010

 

October 2010

A glimpse of the underside of its wings
August 2007