The first of the years’ grass skippers have emerged to flit around in sunny patches.
Which of these skippers is the most commonly seen, Hobomok Skipper?
- Left
- Right
0
voters
Click below to reveal the answer to this weeks’ quiz!
The butterfly on the left is the Hobomok Skipper. The Hobomok Skipper is about twice as common as the butterfly on the right, the Peck’s Skipper.
Although they share similar colors and similar flight times, you can tell these two species apart by the number of cream colored bands on the hind wing. The Hobomok skipper has one thick cream band while the Peck’s Skipper has two cream bands separated by a section of their base orange color. On their upperside (not pictured here), the Hobomok Skipper is predominately orange while the Peck’s Skipper is predominately black. Although watch out, some Hobomok females can come in an all brown form that can make them difficult to ID.
It is believed that the name Hobomok (or Hobbamock) comes from the name of a Wampanoag (Pokanoket) warrior who lived with the Plymouth Colony during their first year.
Peck’s Skipper was named for William Dandridge Peck, a professor of Natural History at Harvard in the 1700s-1800s whose work revolved around the cankerworm and was a founder of the field of economic entomology, or the study of insects that affect agriculture.
Hobomok Skipper by Kent McFarland (iNaturalist)
Peck’s Skipper by Brighton Lee (iNaturalist)
Ready for next weeks’ quiz? Click here!