Pepper and Salt Skipper
June 2022
The Pepper and Salt Skipper (Amblyscirtes hegon) is a rare silvery-gray grass skipper with a bracelet of 3 white marks on the ventral side forewing and a dark gray and white checkered fringe. The species only flies for a short time from mid-May to mid-June and are becoming increasingly hard to find but are reported annually mainly in northwestern NJ.
June 2022
This has to be one of the most beautiful grass skippers in New Jersey and they love these purple Wild Geranium blooms.
June 2022
The dorsal side shows a very distinct metallic gray-black base with white spots and white and black wing fringe. This combo is quite distinct among all NJ grass skippers.
June 2022
Because of the limited preferred nectar sources, and the precarious nature of having so few individuals appear annually in these colonies, the species could easily be extirpated from the state. There may be more unknown sites where this grass skipper resides waiting to be found in New Jersey, but for now hopefully the few that remain will stay unchanged.
