Atrytone arogos

Atrytone arogos, the arogos skipper or beard-grass skipper, is an endangered species of butterfly of the family Hesperiidae.

Atrytone arogos
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Imperiled  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Atrytone
Species:	A. arogos
Binomial name
Atrytone arogos (Boisduval & Le Conte, [1834])
Synonyms
Hesperia arogos Boisduval & Le Conte, [1834] Atrytone vitellius (J. E. Smith, 1797) Atrytone mutius (Plötz, 1883) Phycanassa arogos Hesperia iowa Scudder, 1868

Distribution and habitat

It is found in the United States in isolated colonies in peninsular Florida, the Gulf Coast, south-east North Dakota south to southern Texas and the Colorado Front Range. Strays are found up to New Jersey to northern Arkansas. It is considered possibly extirpated from New York, Minnesota, Wyoming, Illinois, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Iowa, Georgia, and Montana, and definitely so from Pennsylvania.

Description

The wingspan is 29–37 mm. There is one generation with adults on wing from June to July in the north and west. In the south there are two generations with adults on wing from April to September.

Taxonomy

There are two subspecies:

• Atrytone arogos arogos (nominate subspecies)
• Atrytone arogos iowa

Diet

The larvae feed on Andropogon gerardi, Panicum, Calamovilfa brevipilis and other grasses. Adults feed on the nectar from flowers of purple vetch, Canada thistle, dogbane, stiff coreopsis, purple coneflower, green milkweed and ox-eye daisy.