The Dun Skipper, Sedge Witch or Dun Sedge Skipper (Euphyes vestris) is a species of butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 of the Hesperiidae family. It is found from Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

 west across southern Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 to southern Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, south to Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, the Gulf Coast and eastern Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. There are disjunct populations in the high plains and Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 and along the Pacific Coast

Pacific Coast

A country's Pacific coast is the part of its coast bordering the Pacific Ocean.-The Americas:Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western border.* Geography of Canada* Geography of Chile* Geography of Colombia...

.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 29-35 mm. Adults are on wing in July in one generation per year. They feed on the nectar from white, pink and purple flowers, including Asclepias syriaca, Vicia americana

Vicia americana

Vicia americana is a species of legume in the vetch genus known by the common names American vetch and purple vetch. It includes a subspecies known as mat vetch. It is a climbing perennial forb that grows from both taproot and rhizome. The leaves are each made up of oblong leaflets and have...

, Prunella

Prunella

Prunella can mean:* Prunella , also known as accentors or dunnocks* Prunella , also known as self-heal* Prunella, an alternative name used in some parts of France for wine made from the Cinsaut grape...

, Mentha × piperita, Apocynum

Apocynum

Apocynum, commonly known as Dogbane and Indian Hemp, is a genus of the plant family of the Apocynaceae with seven species. From the Greek: apo, away; cyno, dog, attributed to its toxicity...

, Ceanothus americanus

Ceanothus americanus

Ceanothus americanus is a species of shrub native to North America. Common names include New Jersey tea, Jersey tea ceanothus, variations of red root , and mountain sweet , and wild snowball...

and Echium vulgare.

The larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e feed on various sedges, including Cyperus esculentus

Cyperus esculentus

Cyperus esculentus is a species of sedge native to warm temperate to subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, often cultivated for its edible tubers . It is an annual or perennial plant, growing to 90 cm tall, with solitary stems growing from a tuber...

and Carex heliophila.

Subspecies

• Euphyes vestris vestris (California)
• Euphyes vestris metacomet (Harris, 1862) (Massachusetts, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico)
• Euphyes vestris kiowah (Reakirt, 1866)
• Euphyes vestris harbisoni Brown & McGuire, 1983 (California)