Umber skipper
The umber skipper is a small red-brown butterfly with a row of lighter spots on its front wings. Skippers are fast, darting butterflies with thick bodies. Its caterpillars roll up grass leaves to make little hiding tubes.
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Fun facts
Its wings are about 3.5 centimetres from tip to tip.
It flies twice a year, in spring and again in autumn.
Its caterpillars eat lots of different grasses, even lawn grass and bamboo.
The caterpillars live in shelters made of rolled or tied leaves.
Most asked questions about Umber skipper
?Is the umber skipper harmful?
No. It is a harmless little butterfly.
?What does the umber skipper eat?
The butterflies drink nectar, and the caterpillars eat grasses.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lon melane
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Lon melane (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 Eugene Zelenko. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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