Hoary edge

The hoary edge is a brown skipper butterfly with a silvery white patch under its back wings. Skippers have chunky bodies and dart about quickly from flower to flower. It is not common, so seeing one is a treat.

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Fun facts
It looks very much like its bigger cousin, the silver-spotted skipper, but it is smaller and its silver patch is longer.
There are two families of young each year, one in April and one in September.
Scientists have read its whole genome, the full set of instructions inside its cells.
Most asked questions about Hoary edge
?What does a hoary edge caterpillar eat?
Plants of the bean family, such as tickseed and other legumes.
?How big is the hoary edge?
Its open wings are about 4 and a half to 5 centimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Cecropterus lyciades
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Cecropterus lyciades (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Jerry A. Payne, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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