Illinois Beach State Park, South Unit, Lake County, Illinois
July 29, 2008
Note that this is a female in the "Black Witches" group - Dun Skipper, Little Glassy Wing, Northern Broken Dash, Tawny-edged and Cross Line Skippers - which have dorsal wing pale postmedial spots on a dark background. These are difficult to distinguish in the field but we'll closely examine the photo.
Here we have strongly marked, opaque spots. The largest forewing spot looks rectangular (rather than square) and it's outer-margin side is concave. The wing is a russet-brown color (neither orange nor brassy) on the costal margin. These characteristics make it a female Northern Broken Dash.
Photo by Joan Bruchman