Observation date: April 17, 2022
Submitted by: DeepSkyKelly
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: I'm a little puzzled by this one. It was extremely small: noticeably smaller than Common Checkered Skippers I've seen. The white "shoulders" also stand out to me. Kaufman mentions a gray area at the base of the leading edge of the forewing. The more sparse and widely separated white patches also make me lean toward the Small Checkered-Skipper rather than Common Checkered-Skipper. I know there's a fair amount of variation within species and between sexes, but I'm going to go out on a limb and go with Small Checkered-Skipper. It was basking in our backyard sprinkler spray on a mid-70s day.
Status: Resident
Verified by: stevecary
Verified date: April 18, 2022
Coordinator notes: great job diagnosing a new critter! yes, those white-dusted shoulders are distinctive. this is a nice species that is rarely encountered, so thanks for seeing it, photographing and submitting it!
