Ancyloxypha numitor
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Ancyloxypha numitor, the least skipper, is a North American butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. They have a weak, Satyrinae-like flight. The least skipper's rounded wings and slender body are distinctive. Their checkered antennae have no hooks. Males lack stigmata. The upper sides of the forewings are dark brownish black sometimes having a patch of orange. The hindwing is orange with a broad dark brownish-black band surrounding the orange area completely. The underside of the wings is orange with the hindwing discal area being a little bit darker. The hindwing veins are whitish. Its wingspan ranges from 17 to 26 mm.
There are four similar species in the least skipper's range. They are the European skipper (Thymelicus lineola), the tropical least skipper (Ancyloxypha arene), the orange skipperling (Copaeodes aurantiaca), and the southern skipperling (Copaeodes minima).
The European skipper has more pointed wings than the least skipper, the antennae are short and not checkered, and the upper side of the wings is mostly orange or reddish orange with thin black wing margins. Males also have very thin, black stigmata near the costal forewing edge... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Least Skipper sighting in Chicago on a given day, based on 100 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 167th most-seen of the 978 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Least Skipper in Chicago on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Least Skipper sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 14
Of the 14 cities where we can rate Least Skipper sightings, Chicago ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Washington (United States, about 10%), Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (United States, about 10%) and Baltimore (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Hesperiidae
The closest relatives of the Least Skipper that you can see in Chicago (family Hesperiidae, Skippers) are Fiery Skipper (about 10%), Peck's Skipper (about 10%) and Silver-Spotted Skipper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Least Skipper is recorded against all the insects logged in Chicago (100 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
