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Butterflies of
Britain & Europe
Essex Skipper
Thymelicus lineola
OCHSENHEIMER, 1808
Family - HESPERIIDAE
subfamily -
HESPERIINAE
introduction
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habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
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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Adrian Hoskins
Essex Skipper
Thymelicus lineola, male, Stockbridge Down,
Hampshire, England
Note
the tiny crab spider lying in wait on the wild basil flower !
Essex Skipper
Thymelicus lineola, female,
Stansted Forest, West Sussex, England
Introduction
The
Essex Skipper is a very common and widely distributed species in Europe,
occurring throughout the region with the exceptions of Sardinia and northern
Scandinavia. It's range extends eastward across Asia from Turkey to Amurland. In
Africa it is a common species north of the Sahara, particularly on the
Mediterranean coast of Morocco and Algeria. The butterfly was
accidentally introduced into Canada in 1910, and has since spread across much of North America.
It
is very easy to confuse this species with the Small Skipper
Thymelicus sylvestris,
with which it often shares it's habitats. It can be separated from that species
by the following points :
Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola, female, Farlington Marshes, Hampshire, England It is commonest at ungrazed habitats where grasses grow tall, such as roadside verges, motorway embankments, field headlands, sand dunes, undercliffs etc. At grazed sites it breeds mainly along the base of hedgerows, or close to bushes - areas which rabbits and domestic livestock tend to avoid. Thus scrubby grassland sites tend to have stronger populations than more open habitats.
Essex Skipper
Thymelicus lineola, female, Farlington Marshes,
Hampshire, England
Lifecycle
The butterflies emerge
slightly later than the Small Skipper, in mid-late July.
The eggs, which are
lozenge-shaped and milky white in colour, are laid in strings of 3 or 4,
inserted into the flower sheaths of cocksfoot
Dactylis glomerata,
creeping soft grass
Holcus mollis,
timothy Phleum
pratense,
and tor grass
Brachypodium pinnatum,
but never on Yorkshire fog grass
Holcus lanatus,
the main foodplant of the Small Skipper. The eggs are laid in late July, and by
early August the tiny caterpillars are fully developed within, but do not hatch until the following April.
The
caterpillars live within a shelter made by rolling a blade of grass into a tube,
which is held together with strands of silk. It hides within the tube during the
daytime, and feeds at dusk, although fully grown caterpillars can sometimes by
found basking in full sunlight on grass blades.
The
chrysalis, which is thin, green, and has white palpi, is formed within a very
loose shelter constructed by spinning together rolled grass blades, at the base
of a tussock.
Essex Skipper
Thymelicus lineola, male,
Stockbridge Down, Hampshire, England
Adult behaviour
The adults usually occur in sizeable colonies, where populations may run into hundreds or thousands of individuals.
In common with most other grass-feeding skippers, the butterflies have a rapid buzzing and purposeful flight, "skipping" from flower to flower. They nectar at a wide range of plants including small scabious, thistles, knapweed, red clover, white clover, marjoram, ox-eye daisy, wild mignonette, thyme, tufted vetch, self-heal, betony, ragwort, yarrow, fleabane, wild basil, hedge bedstraw and bird's foot trefoil.
Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola, male, Stockbridge Down, Hampshire, England
In overcast weather they are inactive, but in hazy sunlight they spend long periods basking, in the characteristic Hesperiine posture, half hidden amongst tall grasses. In hot weather they tend to settle with their wings fully closed, on grass flowerheads, or high on the stems.
As dusk approaches, Essex and Small Skippers migrate to sheltered sunlit areas of tall grasses, where they roost in hundreds, often with 2 or 3 individuals sharing a single grass head. At this time it is easy to approach the insects, and the ideal time to examine them in determine which of the 2 species are present, and in what ratio.
Essex Skipper
Thymelicus lineola, Farlington Marshes,
Hampshire, England
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