Download Abundance of Skippers

10-10-13
OCTOBER
2013
By
Tom Turpin
Download the audio of On Six Legs: MP3, WMV
Follow us online at Purdue Agriculture News Columns
Abundance of Skippers
Professor of
Entomology
Purdue University
Mention the word "skipper" and not everyone thinks of the same thing.
To some people it suggests the captain of a ship. For those of us who
have been around for awhile, we might think of the TV show "Gilligan's
Island," which featured a character called the "Skipper" - the captain of
a charter boat that shipwrecked on an island in the Pacific.
Download the audio
files or subscribe to
our podcast.
Some people immediately visualize a person jumping a rope when they
hear the word skipper. If you know about "Gilligan's Island," you might
also remember a song by Henson Cargill that was a No.-1 hit on the
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Hits in 1967. "Skip a Rope" admonished us
to "listen to the children" and hear what they say when skipping rope.
Check out these
books by Tom
Turpin:
"Skip a Rope" was about kids at play. I suspect that very few children in
the world have not tried to jump, or skip, rope at some time or another.
But rope-skippers could also be athletes in training, including boxers
getting ready for a prizefight. Even a middle-aged person trying to shed
a few pounds in an exercise class has been known to take jump rope in
hand and do a little skipping.
Flies in the
face of
fashion
What's Buggin
You Now?
So what does it mean to skip? My
dictionary defines the word as "to bound,
especially by taking two steps at a time
with each foot, including a hop and step."
There are other definitions. One is to omit
something such as skipping a meal or a
meeting. Another is to cause an object to
Skipper butterfly on an orange
skim such as when you skip a rock on the
surface of the water. At least that is what
sometimes happens, if you fling the rock
properly. And still another definition of the
word is a type of butterfly.
flower (photos by John
Obermeyer/Purdue
Entomology)
Yes, a skipper is a name used for a group of butterflies! There are
some 200 species of skippers that are found in the U.S. Scientists
classify the skipper butterflies in the insect family Hesperiidae.
Skipper butterflies get their common name
because they fly fast and somewhat
erratically - very much like a kid skipping
along the sidewalk. Skippers of the insect
kind are small butterflies and tend to be
gray or brown in color. These insects have
stouter bodes than most butterflies. In
Skippers enjoy nectar from a
addition, the skipper butterflies have
purple flower.
antennae that are set wide apart at the
base and hooked at the end.
Another difference between skippers and
other butterflies is in the way they hold
their wings when at rest. As is the case
with many adult insects, butterflies have
two pairs of wings. In general, the front
and hind wings on each side of the
butterfly stay together as a pair.
Skipper lights on a dorsal bush
Consequently, it often appears that
butterflies have one large wing, rather than two wings, on each side of
their body. Skippers, though, when at rest hold the front and hind wings
at different angles. As a result, it is obvious to those viewing resting
skipper butterflies that two pairs of wings are present.
Caterpillars of skipper butterflies are smooth-bodied and, unlike other
butterflies, have a constriction in their bodies behind their heads that
makes them appear to have a "neck." Skipper caterpillars often feed in
a leaf shelter. At pupation time, the caterpillars form a cocoon by
wrapping themselves in hunks of leaves fastened together with silk.
One of the most common of the skippers, at least in our backyard, is
the silver spotted. Its name is based on a silver spot on the underside
of the hind wings. That means when the skipper is feeding on nectar
from flowers, the silver spot is visible when the wings are in the upright
position.
One of the food plants for silver-spotted skipper caterpillars is a black
locust tree. The adults feed on nectar from a variety of flowers. Similar
to other insects, populations of silver-spotted skippers build up in the
fall. This is when people sometimes notice these little butterflies.
Hundreds can be seen skipping among the late-season flowers in a
sunny location.
Anybody remember singing the children's song "Skip to My Lou?" If
skipper butterflies could sing, that would have to be their theme song.
Writer: Tom Turpin
[email protected]
Editor: Olivia
Maddox
[email protected]