Bug FAQByssus Skipper
Problema byssus · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae
Also called: bunchgrass skipper
The Byssus Skipper has a wingspan of about 37 to 46 mm and shows yellow-orange undersides on the forewings, with dull yellow hindwings in males and rust-colored hindwings in females. It lives in tall-grass prairies of the Midwest and moist grassy wetlands along the Atlantic coast, occurring from North Carolina down the Gulf states and west to Kansas and Nebraska. Adults sip nectar from wildflowers such as pickerelweed, while larvae feed on eastern gammagrass and big bluestem, tying leaves with silk for shelter.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Wingspan ranges from 37 to 46 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found in tall-grass prairies of the Midwest and moist grassy wetlands such as marsh edges and wet pine savannas along the Atlantic coast. Its distribution is split among the Atlantic coastal plain, Midwestern tall-grass prairie, and isolated prairie fragments in southeastern Nebraska.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults feed on nectar from various wildflowers, including pickerelweed. Larvae eat eastern gammagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii).
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females lay single eggs on the leaves of host plants. Larvae feed on the host grasses and hide in leaves tied together with silk.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
In the Midwest there is one generation flying from June to July; in the southeast there are two generations from May to September, sometimes extending into October.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 19 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas, North Carolina, Kansas, Illinois.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: endemic in North America; endemic in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
When can I see the Byssus Skipper?
In the Midwest they fly in June and July, while in the southeast they appear from May through September and may linger into October.
Source: Wikipedia
What do the caterpillars eat?
The larvae feed on eastern gammagrass and big bluestem, tying the leaves together with silk for shelter.
Source: Wikipedia
Where does this butterfly live?
It inhabits tall-grass prairies of the Midwest and moist grassy wetlands along the Atlantic coast, with a disjunct range that includes the Atlantic coastal plain and isolated prairie patches in Nebraska.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Hesperiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problema_byssus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.