Common roadside-skipper
Amblyscirtes vialis
The common roadside-skipper is a small, dark skipper butterfly from North America. As its name says, you can often spot it along roads and paths. It zips from flower to flower and especially loves low, blue flowers.
Lives in
Across southern Canada and much of the United States
Wingspan
2.2 to 3.2 cm (0.87 to 1.3 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a tiny, gentle butterfly.
What does it eat?
Grown-ups drink nectar, especially from low blue flowers like verbena and selfheal. The caterpillars eat grasses, like wild oats and bluegrass.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 5 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 12 seconds
How big is Common roadside-skipper compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
Common roadside-skipper about 31 km/h (19 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its wings measure 22 to 32 millimetres from tip to tip.
2
The butterflies fly from March to July, and in the south some fly again until September.
3
It is listed as endangered in the state of Connecticut.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common roadside-skipper
?What does the common roadside-skipper eat?
It drinks nectar from low blue flowers. Its caterpillars eat grasses.
?How big is the common roadside-skipper?
Small. Its wings are 22 to 32 millimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Amblyscirtes vialis
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Amblyscirtes vialis (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 Aaron Carlson from Menomonie, WI, USA. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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