Bug FAQOttoe Skipper
Hesperia ottoe · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae
The Ottoe skipper is a small butterfly with a 29 to 35 mm wingspan that lives in mixed-grass prairies and cannot survive in developed or farm land. It is native to the central United States and a small part of southern Manitoba, Canada, and adults fly from mid-June to early August. Caterpillars feed on various grasses and, in Minnesota, on purple coneflower flowers, while adults sip nectar from plants such as monarda and milk thistle.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The Ottoe skipper is a butterfly in the Hesperiidae family.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Its wingspan measures between 29 and 35 millimetres.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It lives in mixed-grass prairies. It cannot survive in developed or farmed land.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars eat grasses such as little bluestem and Leptoloma cognatum, and in Minnesota they also feed on purple coneflower flowers. Adult butterflies sip nectar from plants like monarda and milk thistle.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
There is one generation each year and they do not migrate. Eggs hatch after about 12 to 13 days.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are on the wing from mid-June to early August.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It is native to the central United States and is found in a small area of southern Manitoba, Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 16 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas.
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
Questions people ask
Same family (Hesperiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperia_ottoe
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.