Mournful duskywing
The mournful duskywing is a small skipper butterfly with mottled brown wings. Its back wings have a bright white fringe along the edge. It lives where oak trees grow, because its caterpillars eat oak leaves.
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Fun facts
To find a mate, males perch on hilltops and wait for females to come by.
The female lays her round eggs one at a time. They start yellow and turn deep orange.
Its caterpillar is grey-green with white spots and yellow stripes on its sides.
It is often mixed up with the funereal duskywing, which also has a white fringe.
Most asked questions about Mournful duskywing
?What does the mournful duskywing eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar, and its caterpillars eat oak leaves.
?How can I recognise a mournful duskywing?
Look for a small mottled brown butterfly with a white fringe on its back wings.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Erynnis tristis
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Erynnis tristis (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 Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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