Generally speaking, skippers don't have the most elaborate color patterns on their wings, and from what we've seen, they mostly perch with their wings folded up. The tropical checkered skipper, Pyrgus oileus, is an exception on both counts.

It is, however, like other skippers in two respects — its small size and fast, darting style of flight. The wingspan of the tropical checkered-skipper tops out at about an inch and a half.

It's an abundant butterfly, and Florida is the northern tip of its natural range. It's found throughout the Peninsula, as far south as the Florida Keys. It's also found in South Texas, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America to Argentina. It will stray farther north, having been spotted in North Carolina and Missouri on rare occasions. It prefers open, sunny habitats, including roadsides, fields, fallow agricultural lands and pastures. Adults nectar on wire weed and members of Asteraceae, the sunflower family, like Spanish needles. Host plants include mallows (hibiscus) and sidas. Tropical checkered skippers are "in flight" year round in South Florida, producing as many as five generations within a year, but limited to spring and summer farther north, where they produce fewer generations.

Tropical-checkered skippers are basically brown with numerous white spots throughout their wings. Males also have blue-gray hairs along the length of their bodies and on the base of their wings. Females tend to be darker, with fewer white spots and less hair.