Bug FAQGarita Skipperling
Oarisma garita · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae
The Garita skipperling has a wingspan of about 20 to 25 mm and is orange-brown on the upperside, with orange forewings and dark gray hindwings that have orange inner margins and pale veins underneath.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The upper side of the wings is orange-brown. The underside of the forewings is also orange, while the hindwings are dark gray with orange along the inner margins and gray-white veins.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan ranges from 20 to 25 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars feed on grasses such as Sitanion, Blephanoneuron, Stipa, Poa and Bouteloua. Adult butterflies sip nectar from flowers.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adults are active from mid-June through mid-July.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
The flight period is mid-June to mid-July.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It is also known as the western skipperling or Garita skipper.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 17 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Utah.
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
Questions people ask
What do the caterpillars eat?
The larvae feed on grasses such as Sitanion, Blephanoneuron, Stipa, Poa and Bouteloua.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Hesperiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oarisma_garita
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.