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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of Britain & Europe
 
Lulworth Skipper
Thymelicus acteon ROTTEMBURG, 1775
Family - HESPERIIDAE
subfamily - HESPERIINAE
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Lulworth Skipper Thymelicus acteon, male, Swanage, Dorset, England
 
Introduction
 
The Lulworth Skipper is named after the locality Lulworth Cove, where the species was first discovered in Britain. It is found throughout most of southern and central Europe, but is absent from Scandinavia, Holland, Corsica, Sardinia and the Baltic region. Beyond Europe it occurs in the Middle East, and over much of north-west Africa.
 
The male is much duller and more olive in colour than other European skippers, but could be confused with another north African species, Thymelicus hamza. The female Lulworth Skipper however is very distinctive, being marked on the forewings with a "horseshoe" pattern of suffused golden spots.
 
Lulworth Skipper Thymelicus acteon, male, Swanage, Dorset, England
 
Habitats
 
In Britain this species is at the northern limit of it's range, and is only found at grassland sites less than about 8 kilometres inland of the coast of south-west England.
 
Most of the colonies are located along the chalk and limestone undercliffs between Swanage and Weymouth in Dorset, but there are additional colonies a few miles inland on south-facing grassland hillsides, and small isolated colonies on the coast in Devon and Cornwall.
 
The best sites are characterised by the presence of extensive swathes of tor grass, growing ungrazed or very lightly grazed on warm south facing scrubby grassland slopes. It is very noticeable for example at Swanage, where this grass carpets the hillsides, that the species is scarce on the open cattle-grazed hillsides, but abundant along the base of the hills where it breeds along a narrow fenced-off strip of land which is out of reach of grazing animals, and sheltered by bushes.
 
Lulworth Skipper Thymelicus acteon, male, Swanage, Dorset, England
 
Lifecycle
 
The adults normally emerge in late July and throughout August, but in recent years have begun to appear much earlier, e.g. on 31st May 2008 at Ballard Down I recorded no less than 5 males flying in a sheltered coombe; and in the hot spring of 2007 I saw a single male at the same site on 25th April.
 
The straw-coloured oval eggs are laid in rows of about five or six in the dry sheaths of tor grass Brachypodium pinnatum, and hatch after about 10 days. In mainland Europe additional grasses are used, including false brome Brachypodium sylvaticum, couch Agropyron repens, and wood small-reed Calamagrostis epigejos.
 
After hatching the caterpillars partly eat their egg shells, and then spin little silk cocoons within the dead grass sheaths. They immediately enter a state of diapause, aestivating and then hibernating, and do not awaken until March of the following year. At this time they disperse and live the remainder of their lives solitarily, resting during daylight hours within a shelter made by rolling grass blades into a tube, fastened with strands of silk.
 
The fully grown caterpillar is pale green, with a dark line along the back, narrow cream lines along the sides, and dark green prolegs. It feeds nocturnally, eating small notches out of the grass blades above and below the tube, a habit shared with several other grass feeding skippers.
 
The chrysalis is formed in a loose silk shelter at the base of grass tufts, and is long and thin, bright green, with pale green wing cases, and a dark lines along the back.
 
Lulworth Skipper Thymelicus acteon, male, Swanage, Dorset, England
 
Adult behaviour

 

Both sexes nectar avidly at the flowers of rest-harrow, thistles, bird's foot trefoil and marjoram. When not nectaring they bask in the usual Hesperiine posture, half hidden amongst blades of tor grass, or occasionally on bramble bushes.

 

Copulation occurs at about midday, without any observed pre-nuptial ritual. Mated pairs are reluctant to fly, and usually settle with wings fully closed, amongst tussocks of tor grass.

 
                                                       
Almost every British and European species of butterfly is declining rapidly in numbers, due in most cases to loss or degradation of habitats.
 
You can help to reverse the decline by supporting conservation organisations which purchase and manage habitats as nature reserves, and which lobby government at local, national and international levels, often very successfully, to bring about changes in farming, forestry and urban development policies.
 
Please contact the conservation organisations for advice on how you can help protect British and European butterflies and their habitats. You may be able to offer practical help e.g. by monitoring butterfly populations or helping to manage nature reserves. Donations to these organisations enable them to employ ecologists and biologists. Even if you are unable to provide such help, merely having your name on the membership list can be a powerful tool for conservation organisations wishing to demonstrate the levels of support they have for their policies.

 

 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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