Bug FAQAlkali Skipper
Pseudocopaeodes eunus · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae
The alkali skipper butterfly measures about 2.5 to 3.2 cm long. Its wings are brownish-to-yellowish orange on top and yellow underneath. It lives on alkali flats in northern California, Nevada, and Baja California, where its caterpillars feed on saltgrass.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The upper side of the wings is brownish to yellowish orange, while the underside is yellowish.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults are 2.5 to 3.2 cm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It occurs on alkali flats.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars feed on saltgrass (Distichlis spicata var. stricta).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It also occurs in Baja California, Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 3 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Nevada, Kansas.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What does the alkali skipper look like?
The butterfly has brownish-to-yellowish orange upper wings and yellowish lower wings.
Source: Wikipedia
Where does the alkali skipper live?
It lives on alkali flats in northern California, Nevada, and Baja California.
Source: Wikipedia
What do the caterpillars eat?
They feed on saltgrass (Distichlis spicata var. stricta).
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Hesperiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudocopaeodes_eunus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.