Juba Skipper
Hesperia juba (Scudder, [1871])

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Diagnosis: Hesperia juba is characterized by the dark margin of the forewing that extends in lobes farther into the wing between the veins; these lobes have sharp margins with no blending into the ground colour. The underside of the hindwing is light brown, with the anal area tawny; the medial band is broken into widely separated white spots that are extended very slightly along the wing veins. Wingspan: 27 to 34 mm.

Range: The Juba Skipper flies over a wide area of the western U.S., but reaches Canada only in the southern interior of British Columbia as far north as the Chilcotin River near Riske Creek.

Specimen collection data
and dynamic map

Similar Species: The Western Branded Skipper (H. colorado) and the Nevada Skipper (H. nevada) have greenish undersides and dark upperside borders that blend into the lighter ground colour. [compare images]

Early Stages: The larva is cream-coloured, with a dark head crossed by pale bars (Tilden and Smith, 1986). Preferred foodplants include needlegrass (Stipa spp.), Blue Grass (Poa pratensis and P. agassizensis), and Hairgrass (Deschampsia elongata) (Scott, 1986).

Abundance: This is considered an uncommon species in Canada.

Flight Season: There are two flights, mid-May to June and in September, both in the U.S. and Canada; it is suspected that, at least at some high-altitude locations, this represents only one generation, with some adults hibernating and flying again in the spring (Shapiro, 1979).

Habits: The preferred habitat of juba is sagebrush areas and open woodland (Scott, 1986).

© 2002. This material is reproduced with permission from The Butterflies of Canada by Ross A. Layberry, Peter W. Hall, and J. Donald Lafontaine. University of Toronto Press; 1998. Specimen photos courtesy of John T. Fowler.