Oberthür's grizzled skipper

Oberthür's grizzled skipper
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Pyrgus
Species:	P. armoricanus
Binomial name
Pyrgus armoricanus (Oberthür, 1910)

Oberthür's grizzled skipper (Pyrgus armoricanus) is a species of skipper (family Hesperiidae). It is found throughout Europe although it is commoner in the south and absent from the British Isles and most of Scandinavia.

Like all Pyrgus species, this can be very difficult to identify in the field. It has a wingspan of 24–28 mm and the upperside of the forewings are often noticeably darker brown than other Pyrgus species, especially when fresh, with clear white markings. It resembles some smaller races of large grizzled skipper (P. alveus) but can usually be recognized by the pale reddish-brown colour of the under hindwings with a large pale central spot. P. armoricanus flies in May and June with a second generation in the south of the range in August and September. Adults of this second generation are usually smaller than those of the first.

In most of Europe the larva feeds on Potentilla species and woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). In southern Scandinavia (Sweden and Denmark), however, the main larval food plant is Filipendula vulgaris and to some extent also Helianthemum nummularium^[1]

The species is named after the French entomologist Charles Oberthür (1845–1924) who originally described it.

External links

• European Butterflies and Moths
• Fauna Europaea
• Lepiforum.de
• Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa

References

• Whalley, Paul - Mitchell Beazley Guide to Butterflies (1981, reprinted 1992) ISBN 0-85533-348-0