How to Know the Butterflies

The Cornell classic that taught America to name what it saw: every eastern butterfly described from life, with its caterpillar, its food-plants, its habits — and how to pronounce its Latin.

HomeThe Common Skippers › The Brazilian Skipper (Calpodes ethlius Cal-po'des)

The Brazilian Skipper (Calpodes ethlius Cal-po'des)

Calpodes ethlius (Cal-po'des eth'li-us) PLATE XLII, Fig. 2 An unusually large species, the wings expanding two inches or more. The upper surface is dark blackish brown, with some yellow hairs over the basal portions of the wings; there are seven whitish, translucent spots on the fore wings, and three, the first of which is often double, upon the hind wings; the arrangement of these spots is shown in the figure; there is no trace of a brand in the male.

On the lower side the wings are ochraceous brown except a blackish area on the fore wings extending from cell R + M to the inner margin; the spots of the upper side are repeated. This magnificent skipper is the largest of the subfamily Pamphilinæ found in the East. It occurs only in the southern part of our territory, but it extends southward to the Argentine Republic. The larva feeds on the leaves of Canna.

← The Swarthy Skipper (Euphyes fusca Eu'phy-es fus'ca)The Black Dash →