Bug card No. 4361 of 4,939

Three-spotted skipper

Cymaenes tripunctus

Eats: Nectar and pollen ButterfliesGardens and meadows6 legs

The three-spotted skipper is a small, dull dark brown butterfly. Near the tip of each front wing it has three tiny white spots that you can see through, like little windows. It lives in warm places around the Caribbean Sea.

Lives in

Florida, the Caribbean islands, Central America and South America

Wingspan

2.9 to 3.5 cm (1.1 to 1.4 in)

Top speed

about 32 km/h (20 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. Butterflies cannot bite or sting.

What does it eat?

Like other butterflies, the grown-up drinks sweet nectar with its long tongue.

Photo of Three-spotted skipper — Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

wings as wide as 6 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 12 seconds

How big is Three-spotted 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)

Three-spotted skipper about 32 km/h (20 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Its wings measure only about 2.9 to 3.5 centimetres from tip to tip.

Underneath, its back wings are yellow-brown with faint pale spots near the middle.

It is a grass skipper, one of the skipper butterflies, which are known for their quick, darting flight.

There are two subspecies of this butterfly.

you asked

Most asked questions about Three-spotted skipper

?How big is the three-spotted skipper?

Its wings are about 2.9 to 3.5 centimetres from tip to tip.

?Where does the three-spotted skipper live?

In Florida, on Caribbean islands, in Central America and in South America.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Cymaenes tripunctus
Named by: Herrich-Schäffer, 1865
Group: Butterflies
Family: Hesperiidae
Classification: Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
Lives on: North America, South America
Also known as: Dingy dotted skipper

Where the facts come from

Cymaenes tripunctus (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 Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, 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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