Species: Pyrgus ruralis
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
The Two-banded checkered skipper is a small dark species with two rows of small hyaline spots on the upper surface of each wing. Those on the forewing are median and postmedian, while those on the hindwing are postmedian and submarginal. The narrow and frequently incomplete white ventral hind wing bands cross a mottled ochraceous to rusty background. Males have costal folds and tibial tufts. Similar species: CENTAUREAE, XANTHUS. [RURALIS is] not as two banded as CENTAUREAE, having also a weakly developed submarginal series on the dorsal forewing and a small basal dorsal hindwing dot. It is also darker and smaller [male forewing 1.2-1.3cm], with median white spots in spaces Cu1-Cu2 and Cu2-2A (Cu1, Cu2 = Two branches of the cubitus on the forewing; 2A=the second anal vein of the forewing) (Stanford, 1981).
Classification
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Hesperiidae
Pyrgus
NatureServe
Classification
Ecology and Life History
The Two-banded checkered skipper is a small dark species with two rows of small hyaline spots on the upper surface of each wing. Those on the forewing are median and postmedian, while those on the hindwing are postmedian and submarginal. The narrow and frequently incomplete white ventral hind wing bands cross a mottled ochraceous to rusty background. Males have costal folds and tibial tufts. Similar species: CENTAUREAE, XANTHUS. [RURALIS is] not as two banded as CENTAUREAE, having also a weakly developed submarginal series on the dorsal forewing and a small basal dorsal hindwing dot. It is also darker and smaller [male forewing 1.2-1.3cm], with median white spots in spaces Cu1-Cu2 and Cu2-2A (Cu1, Cu2 = Two branches of the cubitus on the forewing; 2A=the second anal vein of the forewing) (Stanford, 1981).
Conservation Status
PS - of California is listed Endangered by the USFWS.