Dusted Skipper is an uncommon butterfly found only during the spring. The main color is chocolate- brown, with white frosting on the forewings and hindwings, a white comma on the forewing, and a variable number of white spots.

Holly Shelter Game Land, Pender Co., NC 4/19/08.

Similar to the abundant Clouded Skipper, but Dusted Skipper is easily identified if you look for its white "spectacles".

This one landed near me but not in a good position for photographs, so I gently placed my finger under its perch and coaxed it onto my fingertip. It stayed on my fingertip for about 5 minutes as I photographed it and continued hiking!

Holly Shelter Game Land, Pender Co., NC 4/19/08.

There usually is one white spot on the underside of the hindwing, which this individual lacks.

Grayson Co., VA 5/29/05.

Same individual, Grayson Co., VA 5/29/05.

This one has a small white spot.

Franklin Co., NC, 24 April 2002.

Dusteds are fairly rare at the coast. The following two were photographed in Carteret Co., NC, 20 April 2002.

This is a typical looking Dusted Skipper nectaring on Yellow Thistle (Cirsium horridulum).

This individual has about half as many white spots as a Loammi Skipper (Atrytonopsis loammi), which is sometimes lumped in with Atrytonopsis hianna.