Dung Dwelling Skippers

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

So setting aside humorous comments about coprophagous behaviour etc; the
observation of Hesperia assiniboia larvae using Bos plop is kinda
interesting.  In case anyone was wondering, no I have not been out turning
over range patties to look for caterpillars.  The credit for this unusual
observation goes to: McCabe, T.L. and Post, R.L. 1977. Skippers of North
Dakota. North Dakota Insects Publication No. 11. North Dakota State
University. 70 pp.  Here is a brief quote on what these folks found: "...
larvae even go so far as to utilize cattle droppings as fortresses against
the weather.  The larvae construct a burrow two to five inches long under a
dried cattle dropping and line the burrow with silk.  Larvae can be found in
this area under cattle droppings about the first of July"  The place is
Mineral Springs, Slope County, North Dakota in case you want to add this to
your next butterfly watching trip to see the world famous dung-dwelling
skippers :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
Phone 250-365-8610
Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca       
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca