Hayhurst's Scallopwing
The Hayhurst's Scallopwing (Staphylus hayhurstii) is a tiny dark brown Spread-Wing Skipper with namesake scalloped wings like a seashell!! The gold and silver flecking details remind me of a starry sky. Females have two tiny dots near where the forewing starts to bend downward (some males have very inconspicuous dots there as well). These are visible from the dorsal and ventral side. Males and females both have one white dot near the center of the forewing visible from above, with the female’s being bolder and more prominent. It’s always hard to choose but this species has to be one of my favorites!!!!!!
Female - July 2021
Female - July 2021
This awesome Hayhurst's Scallopwing returned to its favorite freshly sprouted Pink Fuzzybean bloom several times, beautifully sunlit amid a mainly shaded edge of the habitat. This species prefers sandy soils and stays low to the ground moving with a lilting flight through vegetation, making it quite difficult to track. Thankfully there were several to observe along a quiet road in Cape May. The location even had a high count of nearly 40 in 2021!!
Female - July 2021
On this day in July, the butterflies were all staying around this small shady patch along the road and were very active while feeding. After a while most would fly off to take very brief moments of rest on perches at the forest edge. This one decided on a small leaf right in front of me and only stayed for about 3 seconds allowing for one flash photo. The scalloped shape of the hindwing is nicely depicted in this image and really does looks like a scallop seashell - and the increased gold and silver flecking and small white spots are indicative of a female.
Female - July 2021
This photo was quite a challenge as the leaves were blowing in the wind, in and out of the sunlight. The summer breeze finally let up for just a bit.
After a bunch of tries I was able to get a nice view of this female. Note the large abdomen as compared with the male pictured below.
Female - July 2021
This photo has a nice representation of how the butterfly’s forewings exhibit a slight downward bend. Where other Spread-Winged Skippers can close their wings fully parallel, Scallopwings have wingtips that fold outward a bit when the wings are closed.
Female - July 2021
Once again Field Clover proves to be an amazing pollinator-friendly bloom as even Scallopwings love them.
Female - July 2021
This was kind of a cool image as the butterfly looks as if she is staring right at the camera!!
Female - July 2021
This individual landed on the far side of the flower and made its way forward to the top of the bloom as I took a burst of several photos - this one was one of my favorites.
Male - July 2021
Note the differences apparent in the dorsal view of this male as there is far less gold and silver flecking, and very faint white dots at the forewing bend and forewing center.
Female - July 2021
Male - July 2021
