Observation date: August 21, 2019
Submitted by: Lisahug
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: This skipper was unusually still on a "Butterfly Bush." I took several pictures and was frustrated because it wouldn't move, and then I realized it couldn't move because it was dead. I don't know how it was stuck to the flower. I did notice some bugs by it, but the story wasn't clear until I got the photos. Unfortunately, it was windy, so the photos are blurry. The first photos were taken at 4:59, (one is just a close-up of the skipper and then the bigger picture of the piggy-backed ambush bugs approaching). Then, at 5:02, the ambush bugs arrive, and the male crawls off the female. At 5:04 a second skipper lands on the flower raceme, after briefly checking out the scene, it leaves. Also at 5:04, it looks like the ambush bug is eating the skipper? I wonder if the skipper is paralyzed by parasitic wasps or maybe the ambush bugs killed it earlier. It's headless. HOT. High 80s. I did knock it out of the bush to get a closer look, but it fell into dense vegetation and I couldn't find it.
Status: Resident
Verified by: Ken Davenport
Verified date: August 21, 2019
Coordinator notes: None.
