Bug FAQRural Skipper
Ochlodes agricola · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Hesperiidae
The Rural Skipper is an ochre-orange butterfly found in mid-elevation foothills of North America. Males have diagonal black markings on the forewings and the underside of the hind wings is solid orange or mottled with brown. Its larvae are yellow with black lines, a black head, and they feed on grasses.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Male Rural Skippers show diagonal black marks on their forewings. The underside of the hind wings is either solid orange or mottled with brown.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults are an ochre-orange colour.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They live in mid-elevation habitats and foothills.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adult males are territorial.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species occurs in North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It is a grass skipper belonging to the butterfly family Hesperiidae.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 8 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Iowa, Colorado.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What do the caterpillars look like?
The larvae are yellow with black lines, have a black head, and feed on grasses.
Source: Wikipedia
Where might I find a Rural Skipper?
They are found in mid-elevation foothill areas across North America.
Source: Wikipedia
What family does the Rural Skipper belong to?
It is a grass skipper in the butterfly family Hesperiidae.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Hesperiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochlodes_agricola
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.