Essex Skipper
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| iEssex Skipper | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Image:Thymelicus spp -xndr).jpg | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Thymelicus lineola |
The Essex Thymelicus lineola is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. In the USA it is known as the European Skipper
Appearance, behaviour and distribution
with a wingspan of 2.5 to 2.9 cm it is very similar in appearance to the Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is to look at the tips of the antennae. The Essex skippers are black whereas those of the Small Skipper are orange. This butterfly occurs throughout much of Europe. Its range spreads from southern Scandinavia, east to Asia and North Africa. It was only identified in the UK in 1889 and its range is expanding both in England and in northern Europe. In North America, this butterfly was accidentally introduced in 1910 via London, Ontario. A distribution map is available from the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.
Life cycle and foodplants
Eggs are laid in strings on the stems of grasses where they remain over the winter. The favoured foodplant is Cock's-foot Dactylis glomerata and rarely uses the small skippers favoured foodplant Yorkshire Fog. Other choices include Creeping Soft Grass holcus mollis, Common Couch Elytrigia repens, Timothy Phleum pratense, Meadow Foxtail Alopecurus pratensis, false Brome Brachypodium sylvaticum, Tor-grass B. pinnatum. The caterpillars emerge in the spring and feed until June before forming shelters from leaves tied with silk at the base of the foodplant to pupate. The adult flies from July to August.
[edit] References and external links
- How to distinguish the Small Skipper from the Essex Skipper.
- European Skipper page from Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center including a USA distribution map.
- Essex Skipper page from Butterfly Conservation.org.
- Essex Skipper page from www.ukbutterflies.co.uk.
- Jim Asher et al The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland Oxford University Pressda:Stregbredpande
de:Schwarzkolbiger Braun-Dickkopffalter fr:Hespérie du dactyle fy:Swartteistergroukopke lt:Juodbuožis storgalvis nl:Zwartsprietdikkopje pl:Karłątek ryska
