Bug Wiki
Sticker of Leonard's skipper
Bug card No. 2570 of 4,939

Leonard's skipper

Hesperia leonardus
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesGardens and meadows6 legs

Leonard's skipper is a small, quick butterfly from North America. Skippers are named for their fast, darting flight. It comes out late in summer, when many other butterflies are already gone.

Lives in
Eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia to North Carolina and west to Colorado
Wingspan
3.2 to 4.5 cm (1.3 to 1.8 in)
Top speed
about 37 km/h (23 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Butterflies cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Grown-ups drink nectar from thistles, asters and other flowers. Its caterpillars eat grasses.
For real!Photo of Leonard's skipper
Picture by Mike Elson. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Leonard's skipper wings about 4.5 cm tip to tip (1.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 8 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 10 seconds

How big is Leonard's skipper compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It has only one family a year, and the grown-ups fly from August to October.

2

There are three kinds of it. One of them, the Pawnee montane skipper, lives only along one river valley in Colorado.

3

Its caterpillars munch grasses such as little bluestem and blue grama.

4

Grown-ups like to sip from thistles, asters, teasel and blazing star flowers.

you asked

Most asked questions about Leonard's skipper

?When can you see Leonard's skipper?

From August to October. It is one of the late summer butterflies.

?What does Leonard's skipper eat?

The butterfly drinks flower nectar, and its caterpillars eat grass.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Hesperia leonardus
Named by
Harris, 1862
Group
Butterflies
Family
Hesperiidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Hesperia leonardus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Mike Elson. 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.

Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip

More from the same group: Butterflies

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

Honey jarfor grown-ups