This tiny skipper has a wingspan of 3/4 – 1 inch. Dorsally, the rounded forewings are orange-gold basally with black around the edges. Ventrally, the forewings are black with a gold tip and the hindwings are a clear orange-gold color. Females can have more black dorsally. The mature caterpillar is about 3/4 inch long. It is long and slender, and light green with a tan – brown head. A prothoracic collar (just behind the head) consists of a narrow, black crossline and a thicker, white crossline above it. It has 4 pairs of white wax glands along the sides of the back half of the abdomen.
These are fairly common throughout the summer in wet grassy areas especially along the Stream trail at Fontenelle Forest. They are weak fliers and can be seen flying through the grass or sitting low on vegetation.
As the larva is spinning its cocoon, the wax comes out of the wax glands and is incorporated in the walls of the cocoon. The larval foodplants are various grasses including blue grass and rice cutgrass.
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