The butterflies on this page are a bit larger than the prior ones and have more triangular-shaped wings.
Page 3 of 5

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Two views of the same Skipper butterfly (not sure which variant it is). The view on the right has both the upper and lower wings visible while just the upper one is visible on the left.
[The butterfly has brown wings with yellow splotches on them. On the image on the right, the lower front wing has a brown dot which is circled by the yellow splotches. This butterfly has a yellow head and a large dark brown eye. Its brown antenna are yellow-tipped.]

A Whirlabout Skipper butterfly
[The butterfly is perched on a blade of grass. It is tan with a large dark eye. Its wings are folded up and in the shape of a triangle. There are dark brown spots on the tan wings.]

A Whirlabout Skipper butterfly in different lighting and with its tongue fully extended
[The butterfly is perched on a flower with its long dark tongue extended from its mouth the center of the flower. Because of the lighting, this whirlabout appears to be the reverse coloring of the prior one--wings are brown and spots are light tan.]

This is a female Fiery Skipper butterfly.
[The butterfly has a similar shape to the prior ones and also the large dark eyes. The pattern on the wings has many more spots and the spots are mostly lighter in color than the base color of the wing.]

The antenna of the Fiery Skipper butterfly project from its head in a u-shape.
[A blade of grass cuts across this top-down view of the butterfly's body, but its head is completely visible with large dark eyes covering much of the side and two antenna projecting from its head as if it is the lower half of a circle. The ends of the antenna are thicker and darker than the rest.]

Fiery Skipper butterfly with the wings partially open and tongue fully extended
[The inner part of the wing has very dark marks against the mustard color of the rest of the butterfly. This butterfly is sitting with its tongue extended on the yellow center of a many-petaled flower.]

The open wings of a Fiery Skipper butterfly
[A top-down view of the butterfly perched on a green leaves. The outer bright orange-yellow wings are out to the side and rimmed with dark brown. The upper wings are nearly at right angles to the lower wings and appear to have less brown at the edges. The fully-visible body is yellow brown with some brown sots. The antenna are yellow with orange brown tips.]

This may be a Palmetto Skipper butterfly.
[A blade of grass cuts across this top-down view of the butterfly's partially open wings, but its head is completely visible with large dark eyes rimmed by white. The under portion of the nearest wing appears to have a light tan stripe between two dark brown ones. The back of one of the wings has two light yellow spots. The legs are light brown.]

One of the smallest butterlies is the Southern Skipperling. Its wings are less than an inch long.
[A yellow butterfly with a triangular shape when the wings are closed is perched on a blade of grass. In this image each of the four lobes of the wings (two on each side) are visible. The are all rimmed in white with yellow centers. At the front end of the wings are brown patches. This butterfly has large balck eyes and relatively short, all yellow antenna.]

Here's a top-down view of a different Southern Skipperling with its entire body length visible.
[This butterfly is perched atop a fogfruit flower with the tips of the white petals visible beneath the butterfly. The top half of the body is a fuzzy dark-gold color. The bottom half is a lighter yellow and tapers in width as it reaches the tail-end. The lower wings have dark brown at the edges closest to the head. All the wings are edged in white while the middle part of the wing is yellow gold. The antennae curve out from the head as if they were horns on a steer.]

The outside of the Southern Skipperling's wings have a series of colored lines. I identified this butterfly from the white stripe which extends the entire width of the lower wing.
[A yellow butterfly with a triangular shape when the wings are closed is perched on a blade of grass. In this image each of the four lobes of the wings (two on each side) are visible. The are all rimmed in white with yellow centers. At the front end of the wings are brown patches. This butterfly has large balck eyes and relatively short, all yellow antenna.]

This may be a young Southern Skipperling butterfly.
[Side view of a butterfly perched on a wide blade of grass with its body seeming to be a furry grey color. Its antenna are the same color and shape as an adult Southern Skipperling with its yellow mustard color and thickness at the tips. The wings are brownish with a light stripe through the upper wing. The large eyes are dark brown.]

This is a Common Checkered Skipper butterfly.
[The butterfly is perched on a small white flower with yellow stamen. The butterfly's wings are open and show a significant light and dark color contrast. It has a dark brown base with lots of yellow-white spots.]

A different Common Checkered Skipper with its wings fully open. The color contrast on the wings make this butterfly easier to spot than other small butterflies.
[The butterfly stands on some green grass strands which contrasts significantly with the brown edging of the wings. The many light spots are very visible as are the back segements of the body which appear to have white rings separating them.]

A close view of a White Checkered Skipper butterfly
[This is a left-side view of the butterfly perched on a small oval-shaped leaf. The body is a furry white colore with large dark brown eyes. One brown and white striped antenna is visible sticking out from the head. The legs are white and appear to have some fur on the upper sections. The wings are closed making the underside visible. The underside is mostly white with some light brown zig-zaggy striping from the center to the outer edges of the wing. At the very top the inside of the other wing is visible and is mostly brown with white spots.]

This is a Southern Cloudywing butterfly.
[The butterfly stands on a leaf with its wings open making the inside visible. The body appears to have a blue tinge. The upper wings are dark brown with light dashes. The lower wings are not visible.]

This is the same butterfly from a different angle. There are actually not light-colored spots on the outside. Those spots are the light going through the wing as that section is much thinner.
[The butterfly stands on a leaf such that we see the outer side of the near wing and the inner side of the far wing. The near wing appears dark except for several dashes of light color.]

A different Southern Cloudywing butterfly
[The butterfly perches on a yellow lantana bloom with its right wing covering much of the blue part of its body. The far wing is completely visible with its white patches on the brown background. The brown antenna stick out from its head and its tongue is extended into the flower. ]

The coloring of the Long-tailed Skipper butterfly is similar to prior butterfly, but the shape is very different.
This butterfly has a 'tail' extending beyond its wings.
[The butterfly is perched on the petals of a bright yellow flower and has its tongue extended into the center of the flower. This is a side view of the butterfly, but the inner part of the far wing is visible. The body appears to have a blue tinge. The upper wings are dark brown with small tan-colored patches. This tail is less than a quarter of the width of a wing, but is approximately the same length so it doubles the total length of the butterfly.]

Another view of the Long-tailed Skipper butterfly with its blue-tinted body visible
[This is more of a top-down view of the butterfly on the same flower. The 'furry' body is a greenish-blue. There is also a small section of wing that is folded around the first third of the tail. The tail is made of two halves as it is essentially extensions of the wing.]

A different Long-tailed Skipper butterfly
[This butterfly hangs upside-down from some green leaves. The wings are together showing the tan-white squares on the dark brown wings. The tail which appears thick on the prior photos seems more like a thin brown pipe-cleaner sticking out from the back end of the butterfly.]

This is a female Horace's Duskywing butterfly.
(Spots are different on a male and female.)
[The butterfly is perched on a flower with its wings open flat. The wings are brown with little color variation on the lower wings. The upper wings have multiple dark brown spots and grey spots on the tan-brown background.]

This is a Wild Indigo Duskywing butterfly with a chunk of wing missing.
[The butterfly is perched on a flower with its wings open flat. The wings are dark brown with only a few very small grey spots near the edge of the wings.]

Continue to page 4 of 5 to see the yellow and zebra-wing butterflies.

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All photos © S. M. Garver