Essex Skipper

__NOTOC__Taxobox
name = Essex Skipper


image_width = 240px
status = NE
status_system = IUCN3.1
image_caption = Female
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
superfamilia = Hesperioidea
familia = Hesperiidae
subfamilia = Hesperiinae
genus = "Thymelicus"
species = "T. lineola"
binomial = "Thymelicus lineola"
binomial_authority = (Ochsenheimer), 1808

The Essex Skipper ("Thymelicus lineola") is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. In the USA it is known as the European Skipper.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 [http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/564.htm Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center] .

Life cycle

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 it rarely uses the Small Skipper's favoured foodplant Yorkshire Fog. Other choices include Creeping Soft Grass ("Holcus mollis"), Couch Grass ("Elymus repens"), Timothy-grass ("Phleum pratense"), Meadow Foxtail ("Alopecurus pratensis"), False Brome ("Brachypodium sylvaticum") and Tor-grass ("Brachypodium 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. Like most skippers, they are fairly strictly diurnal, though individuals are very rarely encountered during the night (Fullard & Napoleone 2001).

References

*: "The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland" Oxford University Press
* (2001): Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. "Animal Behaviour" 62(2): 349–368. doi|10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 [http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3full/reprints/FullNapolDielAB.pdf PDF fulltext]

External links

* [http://www.vlinderstichting.nl/butterflyinfo/species/linsylv.html How to distinguish the Small Skipper from the Essex Skipper] .
* [http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/564.htm European Skipper page] from [http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/ Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center] including a USA distribution map.
* [http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/Butterfly/32/Butterfly.html?ButterflyId=3 Essex Skipper page] from [http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/ Butterfly Conservation.org] .
* [http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Essex%20Skipper Essex Skipper page] from [http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk www.ukbutterflies.co.uk] .