Problema

[John Shuey]

Problema - It really sounds like your females are really males.  If so,
the no problema.  If they are indeed females, then the behavior is indeed
perplexing.

John

herschel.raney at conwaycorp.net wrote:

> Perfect genus name. All the skipper genera should have been so
> profound. Ahem.
>
> Here is the question. I am a new Leper (this is what my Odonate
> watching friends refer to it as). And that is a long story. But I have
> been running up a species list for a local Wildlife Management
> Area that is in North Central Arkansas at less than 500 feet.
> Basically it includes the woodlands and slight rolling hills
> surrounding a large Cypress Swamp. I have discovered a large
> local group of Speyeria diana that is a pure pleasure (and what,
> pray tell, are they doing in a Cypress Swamp?). But also in a small
> cut clearing along a trail there I have discovered a cluster of
> Problema byssus (Byssus Skipper). Lovely little gals as Skippers
> go. And I have seen nothing but females according to the various
> guides. But what they do is in the late afternoon all the Problema
> ladies perch up in this clearing upon small Hickory saplings less
> than 3 feet tall and fold those wings open. They all align
> themselves with their backs directed toward the dropping sun.
> There are four or five saplings and usually four or five Skippers all
> facing the same direction. They look like orange and black fighter
> jets awaiting instructions. Once in position they become invader
> detectors and if a grasshopper or a Widow Skimmer or a Common
> Whitetail dragonfly has the unadulterated boldness to fly into the
> Skipper sunning area then first one and then all of the Skippers
> give chase up to the edge of the clearing and then swirl around
> madly after each other and then take up their ready positions for
> the next run. These things have made me fold over laughing with
> this craziness. And again, they appear to be all females. What in
> the hell is up with these Problemas?
>
>                                 Herschel Raney
>                                 Conway, Arkansas
>
>
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