Forewings are stubby. Mating occurs on the first day of emergence, with males perching on low vegetation to watch for receptive females. Eggs are laid singly on broad-leaved plants, and the caterpillars must climb down into the grasses.
Caterpillars eat grass leaves at night and make shelters of silken tubes lined with grass.
Fourth-stage caterpillars overwinter in shelters that are partially underground. One brood from mid-June to early August. Rolling hills of native tall-grass prairie. Southern Manitoba and western North Dakota to western Minnesota, south to northwest Iowa. Conversion of tall-grass prairie to agricultural use has eliminated most of the habitat of the Dakota Skipper.