Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site
Monitoring butterfly populations across Central California for more than 35 years… Polites sabuleti sabuleti
Common Name: Sandhill Skipper
This is the multiple-brooded, somewhat seasonally-polyphenic low-altitude member of the complex that usually breeds on the turfgrass Distichlis spicata (occasionally on Bermuda Grass in lawns). It is common at Suisun, West Sacramento and North Sacramento and may colonize briefly elsewhere at low elevation. Specimens appearing to be this entity also turn up sporadically at Sierra Valley. Males perch low, often on the ground, and are highly territorial. Both sexes visit low flowers, especially Heliotrope and Lippia. They also frequent Aster and (on the E slope) Rabbitbrush. An urban species in the East Bay, only sporadically seen on lawns inland. March-November; Sierra Valley records in late summer and fall.
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