Description:
	Small butterfly with a wing span up to 1 3/4 inches. The wings are dark brown in color. The male forewing has a dark black stigma; the female forewing has transparent white spots. The underside has dark and light patches and a violet-blue sheen.
Range:
	Southern and eastern United States, Mexico, Central America and South America.
Habitats:
	Pinelands, hammock edges and open, disturbed sites.
Ecology:
	Larvae feed on many species of grasses (Poaceae). Native host plants include cultivated species such as eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides), maidencane (Panicum hemitomum), southern wild-rice (Zizaniopsis miliacea), sugarcane plumegrass (Saccharum giganteum) and water paspalum (Paspalum repens). Other native host grasses are beaked panicum (Panicum anceps), Brazilian satintail (Imperata brasiliensis), coastal foxtail (Setaria macrosperma), coast cockspur (Echinochloa walteri), Egyptian paspalidium (Paspalidium geminatum), fall panic grass (Panicum dichotomiflorum), Florida paspalum (Paspalum floridanum), redtop panicum (Panicum rigidulum), rough barnyardgrass (Echinochloa muricata), Savannah panicum (Phanopyrum gymnocarpum), spike chasmanthium (Chasmanthium laxum), sweet tanglehead (Heteropogon melanocarpus), tall redtop (Tridens flavus) and thin paspalum (Paspalum setaceum). Larvae will also feed on many exotic grasses including lawn grasses such as St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), landscape plants such as common bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris), crops such as corn (Zea mays), grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), weeds such as barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) and Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense), and invasives such as cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), fountaingrass (Pennisetum setaceum), Guineagrass (Panicum maximum), napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and Paragrass (Urochloa mutica). Native nectar plants include the cultivated shrub common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and the wildflowers blue porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis) and pickerweed (Pontederia cordata). Weedy native nectar plants include Spanish-needles (Bidens alba var. radiata).
Flight:
	All year in South Florida.
Comments:
	For more information and an image, visit the Butterflies and Moths of North America website.