from the October 25, 2009 Newsletter, from near Natchez, Mississippi
CHECKERED-SKIPPER
The other day on an aster doing weed-service right next to my trailer a butterfly came along looking more ornate than usual, so I photographed him, as you can see below:

Bea up in Ontario tells me that EITHER it's the Common Checkered-Skipper, Pyrgus communis OR the White Checkered-Skipper, Pyrgus albescens. Both occur in this area. To assure me that she's taken the ID as far as a conscientious and honest insect-identifier dare take it she quoted from the Butterflies and Moths of North America website that the Common and the White species can be separated with confidence "only by dissection and examination of the male genitalia."

The two species share the same life history: Males patrol looking for females mostly in the afternoon. Females lay eggs singly on leaf buds and tops of leaves. Caterpillars make folded-leaf nests in which they live, feed, and hibernate.