Dingy Skipper

Dingy Skipper
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Erynnis
Species:	E. tages
Binomial name
Erynnis tages (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages, is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It ranges from Europe across Asia Minor and Central Asia to the Amur region.Erynnis tages favours open grassy habitats up to 2,000 metres above sea level. The insect flies in two generations from May-June and July-August but in northern regions and at the high altitudes, there is only a single generation. Larval host plants in Europe are Eryngium, Lotus , Coronilla, Medicago, Hippocrepis etc. Subspecies are little defined and include unicolor Freyer, 1852 found in Transcaucasia.

British Isles

Appearance, behaviour and distribution

This well camouflaged, brown and grey butterfly can be confused with the Grizzled Skipper, the Mother Shipton Moth or the Burnet Companion Moth. It is probably the most moth-like British butterfly and normally rests with its wings in a moth-like fashion. It is widely but patchily distributed across Britain. It occurs further north than any other skipper in Scotland with some isolated colonies in the Inverness region. It is also one of the two skippers to be found in Ireland, again with a patchy distribution but the main strongholds along the western side. A variety of habitats are used including chalk downland, woodland clearings, coastal dunes, railway lines and waste ground. It is on the decline in several European countries including the UK.

Life cycle and food plants

The eggs are laid singly on the tender young leaves of Bird's-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus, the favoured foodplant (although Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa and Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil Lotus pendunculatus are sometimes used). The caterpillar creates a shelter by spinning leaves together and feeds until fully grown in August. It then creates a larger tent to form a hibernaculum where it hibernates. Pupation occurs the following spring without further feeding. Adults are on the wing from mid-May till mid-June.

References and external links

• Dingy Skipper page from Butterfly Conservation
• Dingy Skipper page from the UK Butterflies site
• Dingy Skipper page from Lepidoptera of Norway
• Jim Asher et al. The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland Oxford University Press

See also

• List of butterflies of Great Britain

This Hesperiidae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Hesperiidae British butterflies Animals described in 1758 Hesperiidae stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу Ammonium thioglycolate Epitácio Lindolfo da Silva Pessoa Look at other dictionaries: dingy skipper — noun A small, cryptic, dull brown butterfly, Erynnis tages, of the family Hesperiidae …   Wiktionary Grizzled Skipper — Taxobox name = Grizzled Skipper image width = 200px regnum = Animalia phylum = Arthropoda classis = Insecta ordo = Lepidoptera superfamilia = Hesperioidea familia = Hesperiidae subfamilia = Pyrginae genus = Pyrgus species = P. malvae binomial =… …   Wikipedia List of butterflies of Great Britain — This is a list of butterflies of Great Britain, past and present (and dubious). Note that details on specific species are relevant to the GB populations and some details may not be consistent with the species in other parts of its range. Species… …   Wikipedia List of Estonian butterflies — This is a list of butterfly species recorded in Estonia (excluded are the species not encountered during the past 100 years). Hesperiidae – Skippers*Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages *Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae *Olive Skipper Pyrgus serratulae… …   Wikipedia Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust — The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland, England. Founded in 1956, (originally under the name Leicestershire and Rutland Trust for Nature Conservation ) the trust now… …   Wikipedia List of endangered species in the British Isles — This is a list of endangered and threatened animal and plant species in the British Isles. They are endangered or have reducing populations within the British Isles and may become extinct in the future. Some suffer because of loss of habitat, but …   Wikipedia List of butterflies of Ireland — This is a list of Irish butterflies, past and present. Note that details on specific species are relevant to the Irish populations and some details may not be consistent with the species in other parts of its range. Hesperiidae –… …   Wikipedia List of extinct and endangered species of Lithuania — This is a list of extinct, endangered and threatened animals of Lithuania. Collecting of this list started in 1959 and current version (2003) contains 815 species 23 mammals, 75 birds, 128 insects, 224 flowering plants, 199 fungi and… …   Wikipedia Duskywing — Duskywings Erynnis tages Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia …   Wikipedia Hartslock — Nature Reserve is an 11 acre (4.5 hectare) section of the much larger Hartslock SSSI near Goring on Thames, south Oxfordshire, England. The reserve is primarily south facing chalk downland surrounded by thick, ancient hedges and narrow tracts of… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”