Skipper? Butterfly? (1 Viewer)

Is the orange one a skipper? The Delaware skipper seems to be the closest thing I can match it to online so far. And I'm lost on the second one all together. Both photographed in northeast Missouri this past week. The orange one was pretty tiny and an a more or less open field, while the second photo was in a forested area, if that helps any. Wingspan on the second one was maybe 2"? I can't recall exactly....Am I correct in assuming it's a butterfly rather than a moth?

lassa8 said:

Is the orange one a skipper? The Delaware skipper seems to be the closest thing I can match it to online so far. And I'm lost on the second one all together. Both photographed in northeast Missouri this past week. The orange one was pretty tiny and an a more or less open field, while the second photo was in a forested area, if that helps any. Wingspan on the second one was maybe 2"? I can't recall exactly....Am I correct in assuming it's a butterfly rather than a moth?

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Good Morning Lassa8,

Your first picture is a Skipper butterfly in a typical 'at rest' position. It is going to be difficult to ID from that angle as sometimes you need to see both upper and lower wing patterns and occasionally the underside of the tips of the antennae. So unfortunately, unless you have other pictures of it, no one will be able to get any further in naming it. Skippers are mainly a rough grassland species. They are considered by some scientists to be an intermediate group, somewhere between butterflies and moths as they show characteristics of both insect groups. However they are usually assigned to the Butterflies.

Your second specimen is also a butterfly, possibly one of the Satyridae, but unlike anything we have here in Britain, but no doubt one of your compatriots in the USA will know what it is.

Regards,

Harry