Bug FAQDun Skipper
Euphyes vestris · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae
Also called: Dun Sedge Skipper, Sedge Witch
It lives in open fields, oak woodlands, and riparian wetlands, with the harbisoni subspecies limited to riparian oak woodlands in southern California and northern Mexico. Larvae feed on sedges and adults are attracted to flowers of mint, dogbane, and milkweed; the caterpillars are pale transparent green with many white marks.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The dun skipper is a brown butterfly of medium size.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
It is medium-sized compared with other butterflies.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It inhabits open fields, oak woodlands, and riparian wetlands. The harbisoni subspecies is tied to riparian oak woodlands in San Diego County.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae use sedges (Cyperaceae) as host plants. Adults are drawn to flowers of mint, dogbane, and milkweed.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The early stages were described by Heitzman in 1964. Caterpillars are pale transparent green with many white markings.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species occurs throughout the United States and southern Canada. The harbisoni subspecies is restricted to southern California and northern Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The dun skipper belongs to the Hesperiidae family and the genus Euphyes, which includes about ten North American skippers.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 49 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Vermont, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Illinois, Maryland.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Hesperiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphyes_vestris
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.