Image of Horace's Duskywing

Description:

"Horace's Duskywing (Erynnis horatius) 25 July 2014: During the last few weeks of summer several interesting butterflies appeared on Cooper Creek next to Avondale Park in Denton, Texas. One of these that appeared and which we observed and photographed was Horace's Duskywing (Erynnis horatius). For being a skipper, this one had its wings wide open and offered us a complete view of its dorsal side. If one goes online to research skippers in particular one will find that most of the pics will not show them with their wings spread completely open as our images do for this observation. We don't know why this happens suffice to say that it is simply noted in the course of our online research that this is the case. Happily, we have the image that shows the Horace's Duskywing with its dorsal side in plain view for all to see and identify. In deciding on the IDentity of this skipper we judged it to be Horace's Duskywing but we looked closely at the Meridian Duskywing (Erynnis meridianus) as well but decided in the end that based on the rest of the mottled markings of the dorsal wings presented by the specimen in our observation, that it was a Horace's Duskywing and not Meridian Duskywing. The Meridian Duskywing has more of a reddish-brown color to its dorsal presentation than Horace's Duskywing does in our view and is absent the mottled look referred to. Meridian Duskywing according to the Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society does occur occasionally in Dallas County and North Texas as a ""stray"" and their last documented instance of it occurred in October 2002, thirteen years ago. I wouldn't call it a ""stray"" as they do perhaps; I'd call it more like rare. This detail influenced our decision too. Horace's Duskywing is considered a large skipper and can grow up to 1.5 to 2.0"" across from one tip of its wing to the other. To access the images for the two Duskywings (Horace and Meridian) we examined consult the section below on sources. We have provided a brief explanation and the respective links to the various sources for all to access and learn from as we did. Horace’s Duskywing’s range extends throughout most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States encompassing 37 states and the District of Columbia from the Great Lakes to the Río Bravo/Río Grande (north and south) and from the Colorado River to the Atlantic Ocean (east and west) generally speaking. The western third of the nation generally does not provide a home for Horace’s Duskywing’s range but it does fly south through Texas at least into northeastern Mexico. The nationally-limited range maps we consulted online for this butterfly do not discuss the range beyond the national borders of the United States and so we fail to understand fully the extent of its range to the south of the U.S.-Mexico border. But because Horace’s Duskywing is most definitely a North American butterfly it is and has long been an original authentic resident of the Western Hemisphere. Avondale Park and Cooper Creek are both administered by the City of Denton, Texas. Sources: “Erynnis horatius - (Scudder and Burgess, 1870),” Explorer: An Online Encyclopedia of Life, NatureServe, description and range map provided, accessed 10.15.15, http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Erynnis+horatius “Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius),” BugGuide, specimen from Dallas Arboretum, Dallas County, Texas, USA, September 7, 2015, accessed 10.15.15, http://bugguide.net/node/view/1135963/bgimage “Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horaitus,” Dallas County Lepidopterists’ Society, Butterflies of Dallas County, for a digital image of the dorsal and ventral view of a specimen captured in Dallas County, Texas, accessed 10.15.15, http://www.dallasbutterflies.com/ “Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius),” Junior Wildlife Journal, New Hampshire Public Television, provides a good description of this species and a range map indicating the extent of its presence in the United States, accessed 10.15.15, http://www.nhptv.org/wild/horacesduskywing.asp “Horace’s Duskywing (Erynnis horatius),” New Jersey Butterflies, NABA – North Jersey Butterfly Club, presents a brief description of this species, accessed 10.15.15, http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabanj/butterflies/horaces_duskywing.html “Meridian Duskywing (Erynnis meridianus),” Butterflies of America, presented for comparative purposes, male specimen from Huachuca Mountains, Carr Canyon, Cochise County, Arizona, USA 31-VII-93, accessed 10.15.15, http://butterfliesofamerica.com/imagehtmls/Pyrginae/543_Erynnis_meridianus_meridianus_M_Huachuca_Mtns_Carr_Cyn_Cochise_Co_AZ_USA_31-VII-93_C2_2_i.htm “Medridian Duskywing (Erynnis meridianus),” Dallas County Lepidopterists’ Society, Butterflies of Dallas County, for a digital image of the dorsal and ventral view of a specimen captured in Dallas County, Texas, accessed 10.15.15, http://www.dallasbutterflies.com/"