Wing span: 1 1/4 - 1 5/8 inches (3.2 - 4.2 cm).

Identification: Upperside of male is yellow-orange with a wide brown border and a large squarish black stigma. Female upperside varies from yellow-brown to very dark brown, but always has a square transparent white spot at the end of the forewing cell. Underside of female hindwing is brown with nearly square cream or white spots.

Life history: Males perch on or near the ground during most of the day to wait for receptive females. Females lay single eggs on dry grass blades in the afternoon. Caterpillars feed on leaves and live at the base of grasses in shelters of rolled or tied leaves.

Flight: Three broods from May-November in the north; four to five broods from March-December in the Deep South.

Caterpillar hosts: Grasses including Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), crabgrass (Digitaria), St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), and goosegrass (Eleusine).

Adult food: Nectar from many flowers including swamp and common milkweeds, buttonbush, dogbane, peppermint, red clover, tickseed sunflower, thistles, New York ironweed, marigold, and asters.

Habitat: Disturbed, open areas such as roadsides, landfills, pastures, meadows, fencerows, yards, parks, and lawns.

Range: Southern United States from Virginia west to California; south through Mexico and Central America to Brazil. Strays and colonizes north to central North Dakota, southern Michigan, Manitoba, and northern Pennsylvania.