Common Name: West Slope Colorado
Skipper
The taxonomy of this entity has
undergone some very unfortunate turbulence recently. It used to be put in the species Hesperia comma,
and its subspecifixc name used to be yosemite. The name harpalus
was used for the East slope subspecies, which is very
different. (Got that?) As now construed, harpalus refers to the
single-brooded entity with a very lightly-marked, mostly golden ventral hindwing in the male and a
highly variable spot-pattern on the same wing in the female, incorporating a
c-shaped element on the basal half. It occurs on non-serpentine substrates, in dry
meadows and along wood roads, visiting Pink Dogbane, Coyotemint, Eriogonum
nudum, and other flowers. It flies in June and July, after H. lindseyi
where they co-occur or come close, and as late as September at Donner. Hilltopping males are taken on
Castle Peak. The West and East slope subspecies not only look very different;
they have strong molecular-genetic differences and are only known to intergrade
in the Feather River Canyon, north of our area. Larvae feed on perennial grasses. Oddly, the
only host definitely identified at one of our sites is a naturalized exotic,
Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum).