Euphyes vestris
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Euphyes vestris, commonly referred to as the dun skipper, is a butterfly belonging to the Hesperiidae family. It appears as a brown, medium-sized butterfly found across the United States and southern Canada. Euphyes vestris inhabits multiple environments, including open fields, oak woodlands, and riparian wetlands. There are currently four recorded subspecies of Euphyes vestris, three of which have been identified across eatern, western, and mountainous regions of North America. The fourth subspecies, Euphyes vestris harbisoni, known as the Harbison's dun skipper is geographically restricted to southern California and northern Mexico.
The dun skipper, Euphyes vestris, is categorized within the genus Euphyes, a known group of ten closely related skippers found in North America. Species belonging to this genus live in environments with high humidity, such as swampy habitats, and occur in small populations. Across its subspecies it has been recognized that E. vestris relies on sedges, which are plants in the family Cyperaceae, as host plants for its larval development.
Euphyes vestris belongs to the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Dun Skipper sighting in Houston on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 320th most-seen of the 1057 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dun Skipper in Houston on a given day, against under 5% in September and November–July, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dun Skipper sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 13
Of the 13 cities where we can rate Dun Skipper sightings, Houston ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Toronto (Canada, about 10%), San Antonio (United States, about 10%) and Baltimore (United States, under 5%).
Same family: Hesperiidae
The closest relatives of the Dun Skipper that you can see in Houston (family Hesperiidae, Skippers) are Fiery Skipper (about 20%), Blurry-Striped Longtail (about 10%) and Long-Tailed Skipper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dun Skipper is recorded against all the insects logged in Houston (39 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.
