Long Dash - Hodges#4043

Adult: male upperside bright orangish-brown with wide dark brown border covering outer third of each wing; dark patch along outer edge of black stigma, and another wide rectangular patch near wingtip makes stigma appear much longer and wider than it is, and gives the species its common name female upperside mostly dark brown with varying amounts of dull orange or straw-colored shading on costa; both sexes have pale orange medial patch on hindwing above, crossed by dark veins, and a crescent-shaped band of pale medial spots on underside, parallel to outer margin of wing [adapted from description at Butterflies of Canada] western individuals may have less conspicuous spots on underside of wings, and in some individuals the underside may appear uniformly yellowish-orange Larva: body brownish-green or dark brown with white mottling and darker dorsal stripe Specimens from the Prairies tend to be paler on the underside and have been treated as subspecies dacotah , but we find the difference too slight and too variable and do not recognize any subspecies in Polites mystic . [quoted from Butterflies of Canada by Layberry et al ] Judging from photos of western specimens of P. mystic at BugGuide, the phrase tend to be paler seems like an understatement: the photo from Colorado by Tom Murray here shows virtually no trace of spots on the underside; likewise with the photo from North Dakota by Brian Reynolds here . Compare those photos with an image from Wisconsin here . The individual on the left looks very similar to Tom's and Brian's photos, but the text in the URL of the image identifies it as a Delaware Skipper.