Long Dash

Polites mystic · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae

Also called: Long Dash Skipper

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Long Dash
Photo: Ryan Hodnett, CC BY-SA

The Long Dash has dark brown-reddish to yellow-orange markings on top and the female’s forewing shows a broad black patch at the base.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Top markings are dark brown-reddish to yellow-orange. Male forewing bears a long, slightly curved stigma that may connect to a dash near the apex.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Found in northern North America and in mountains of southern North America, preferring grassy habitats.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Native to northern North America and mountainous regions of the south.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 36 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Vermont, California, Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, Idaho, Ohio, Massachusetts.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

Same family (Hesperiidae)

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limochores_mystic

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.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.