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Hesperiidae (family-level entry)

Yucca specialist host - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents Yucca filamentosa as a larval host for the Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae) and Cofaqui Giant-Skipper (Megathymus cofaqui), whose larvae bore into the plant.

Warm-season-grass specialist host - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents big bluestem as a larval host for the Delaware Skipper and Dusted Skipper. Planting native warm-season grasses is the single most effective way to support skipper populations.

Warm-season-grass specialist host - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists blue grama as a larval host for the Garita Skipperling, Uncas Skipper, Pahaska Skipper, Green Skipper, Rhesus Skipper, and Simius Roadside-Skipper. Planting native prairie grasses is the most effective way to support these skipper populations.

Little bluestem is one of the canonical larval host grasses for multiple skipper species (Hesperiidae) across eastern and central North America. Planting native warm-season grasses is the single most effective way to support skipper populations.

Poaceae specialist - multiple skipper species use prairie dropseed as larval host.

Poaceae specialist - multiple skipper species use river oats as larval host.

Yucca specialist host - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents Yucca filamentosa as a larval host for the Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae) and Cofaqui Giant-Skipper (Megathymus cofaqui), whose larvae bore into the plant.

Warm-season-grass specialist host - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents big bluestem as a larval host for the Delaware Skipper and Dusted Skipper. Planting native warm-season grasses is the single most effective way to support skipper populations.

Warm-season-grass specialist host - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists blue grama as a larval host for the Garita Skipperling, Uncas Skipper, Pahaska Skipper, Green Skipper, Rhesus Skipper, and Simius Roadside-Skipper. Planting native prairie grasses is the most effective way to support these skipper populations.

Little bluestem is one of the canonical larval host grasses for multiple skipper species (Hesperiidae) across eastern and central North America. Planting native warm-season grasses is the single most effective way to support skipper populations.

Poaceae specialist - multiple skipper species use prairie dropseed as larval host.

Poaceae specialist - multiple skipper species use river oats as larval host.

Poaceae specialist - multiple skipper species use side-oats grama as a larval host (the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents Green Skipper, Dotted Skipper, and others).

NC State documents wild indigo duskywing (Erynnis baptisiae) - a skipper specialist on Baptisia - as a larval host on this plant. Hoary edge (Achalarus lyciades) is also a duskywing-family Lep host per NC State.

Long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus) and silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) larvae feed on Phaseolus and other Fabaceae plants. In bean gardens, occasional skipper-caterpillar leaf damage is minor + part of the wedge-relevant Lep support story - don't spray.

Many skippers are grass (Poaceae) feeders whose larvae develop on grass blades, so a stand of oats can plausibly serve as larval food, though it is grown as a crop rather than maintained as host habitat.

Both the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and NC State Extension document Apios americana as a larval host for the Silver-spotted Skipper, a legume-feeding skipper whose caterpillars develop on this native vine.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists honey locust as a larval host, including the Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus), a widespread legume-feeding skipper.

This is the relationship that separates Idaho fescue from an ornamental fescue, and it is documented rather than inferred. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center names it a larval host for the Sonora skipper (Polites sonora), and Wikipedia adds Lindsey's skipper, sandhill skipper, woodland skipper and western branded skipper to the list. Skipper caterpillars feed on grass blades and shelter in tied leaf nests, so the host relationship depends on the clump being left standing rather than sheared - which is the practical reason this record says cut back in late winter, not autumn. None of those five skippers has its own entry in this wildlife catalog, so the relationship is wired to the generic skipper record and the species are named here.

Multiple grass skipper species use Sorghastrum nutans as a larval host alongside other native warm-season grasses (Andropogon, Schizachyrium). Planting Indian grass alongside little bluestem + switchgrass provides the broadest skipper-larva habitat.

Wikipedia names Hesperia comma among the caterpillars feeding on sheep fescue. Hesperia comma has no entry of its own in this wildlife catalogue, so the relationship is wired to the family-level Hesperiidae record, whose defining trait is exactly this - skipper larvae feed almost exclusively on grasses. One naming trap deserves calling out, because it has the potential to mislead: this catalogue's 'silver-spotted skipper' record is Epargyreus clarus, a North American legume feeder, and it is NOT Hesperia comma, which carries the same English name in Britain. The two are different insects and only the European one is documented on this grass, so the Epargyreus record is deliberately not wired here.

Multiple skipper butterfly species use warm-season prairie grasses including switchgrass as larval food plants.

The shallow florets of open marigold heads are a nectar source visited by skippers and other small butterflies; a general nectar visit rather than a documented host relationship.

Short-tongued skippers find yarrow especially accessible because the small corolla tubes match their proboscis length.

Skippers are frequent visitors to open composite flowers like zinnias; while the species pages cite butterflies generally rather than skippers by name, skipper nectaring on zinnias is widely observed.

Skippers work the top-down blooming spike efficiently - the disc-floret architecture matches short skipper proboscises.

Short-tongued skippers reach the small corolla tubes easily, making yarrow especially accessible to them.

The shallow florets suit short-tongued skippers, which are frequent visitors to flossflower's clusters for nectar; a general nectar visit, not a host relationship.

Like other open marigold heads, the shallow florets are a nectar source visited by skippers and other small butterflies; this is a general nectar visit rather than a documented host relationship.

NC State Plant Toolbox states the flowers attract butterflies; skippers are common late-season nectar visitors to open-flowered composites, so visitation is plausible though not individually documented for this hybrid.

Both Missouri Botanical Garden and the Wildflower Center record that this plant attracts butterflies, and skippers are the group that most consistently works flat composite heads in open sunny grassland - short tongues, a habit of perching on the disc, and a flight season that overlaps the bloom. The category is documented; the group is inference, so this stays plausible.

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder lists the flowers as attractive to butterflies generally; flat-topped lantana clusters are a common nectar source for skippers, though MBG does not name this group specifically.

Missouri Botanical Garden lists Butterflies under what this plant attracts, and Wikipedia records that it attracts bees and butterflies, but neither source names a species. Skippers are recorded here as the most likely group behind a category-level statement of this kind: they are short-tongued, they work open composite heads in full sun through the same June-to-August window, and a flat 2 to 3 inch disc is the shape they are built for. Marked plausible because the sources stop at the category.

Wikipedia names butterflies including skippers among the flower visitors, and the Wildflower Center records nectar for bees, butterflies and insects generally. A flat-topped cyme is a short-tongued butterfly flower, which is why skippers rather than the long-tongued swallowtails are the group that gets named.

Both Missouri Botanical Garden and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center record butterfly value on this species, MBG under Attracts and the Wildflower Center as nectar for butterflies, neither naming species. Skippers are the butterflies most consistently found on short-tubed composite flowers in open grassland and they overlap completely with this bloom period, which is why they lead the butterfly entries here rather than a showier species.

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder records the flowers as attractive to butterflies; the dense nectar-rich heads draw skippers along with larger butterflies.

NC State Extension Plant Toolbox specifically notes that beetles, butterflies, and skippers feed off the plant.

NC State explicitly lists skippers among the visitors; the small individual florets within each domed cluster fit short skipper proboscises.

Plotwright. (n.d.). Hespéries (Hesperiidae (family-level entry)). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/wildlife/skipper-butterflies