The Long Dash is a butterfly that is found in parts of North America. It is often found in the mountain areas.
What Does the Long Dash Look Like?
The Long Dash butterfly is brown to reddish in coloring and has orange and yellow markings on its wings.
The female Long Dash butterfly has a black patch at the ends of the wings and the male has a long stigma, or an area that lets off a smell to attract the female.
The Long Dash butterfly gets up to 1.5 inches long.
The bottom of the butterfly has orange brown and yellow spots.
Where Does the Long Dash Live?
The Long Dash butterfly lives in North America, in areas such as Washington, Idaho, West Virginia, Virginia and New Jersey.
The habitat of the Long Dash is meadows, prairies, woodsy areas, marshes and grassy areas.
Finding a Mate
The male will flutter around low spots of grass or bushes in the afternoon to find a female. The female will then lay one egg close to the plant where it lives.
The caterpillar of the Long Dash will eat the leaves once it is hatched and it will tie leaves together with silk thread to have a shelter.
The Long Dash will have one set of eggs a year.
When is the Long Dash Most Active?
The Long Dash is most active during May to August.
What Does the Long Dash Eat?
The Long Dash caterpillar eats bluegrasses. The adult butterfly of the Long Dash drinks nectar from flowers such as the milkweed, mountain laurel, tick trefoil and selfheal.
More Facts About Long Dash Butterfly:
- The Long Dash is considered a rare butterfly.
- The Long Dash is similar to the Indian Skipper but it has darker lines and is shorter and wider.
- The Long Dash has wings that are different shades of brown.
- In the west, the Long Dash has more orange and yellow in its wings and is sometimes confused with the Delaware Skipper.
- The name Long Dash comes from there being long dash marks on the wings.
What Did You Learn?
What is the Long Dash?
The Long Dash is a butterfly that is found in North America.
What kind of habitat does the Long Dash live in?
The Long Dash butterfly likes to live close to meadows, marshes, woodsy areas and prairies. Some of the Long Dash species lives in mountain areas and others live in the grassy areas.
What does the Long Dash eat?
The Long Dash likes to drink nectar from flowers such as the milkweed, mountain laurel, tick trefoil and selfheal flowers.
What are some other species of flowers that the Long Dash gets confused with?
The Long Dash is sometimes confused with the Indian Skipper and the Delaware Skipper.
How did the Long Dash get its name?
The Long Dash butterfly got its name from the long dashes on its upper wings.
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