One of our rarest skippers, Loammi Skipper is found in North Carolina only on barrier islands, where a known host plant is the grass Seaside Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium [Andropogon] littorale). The known range of Loammi Skipper in NC is from Carteret County south, which corresponds to the range of this host plant.

Carteret Co., NC 4/14/07 (all photos).

Loammi is sometimes lumped with the related Dusted Skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna), which rarely has a few rounded white spots, but never the large, blocky white band of Loammi. Loammi Skipper has two flight periods, early April to mid-May and mid-July to late August, while adjacent populations of Dusted Skipper are single-brooded, flying from late April to mid-May.

Some lepidopterists think the population in Onslow and Carteret counties, NC, may be a different species or subspecies from the Florida population of Loammi, which ranges as far north as New Hanover Co., NC.

To give you a feel for the range of variation in this rare species, I've posted photographs of 7 different individuals here, mostly males.