(Rambur, 1839)
Southern Marbled Skipper
Description:
The Southern Marbled skipper occurs on dry, sparse vegetation, as found in the dunes, in dry, grassy places, and on rocky slopes. Food plants are various horehounds, including Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), Black Horehound (Ballota nigra ssp. foetida), and Ballota spp.
The female lays her eggs one by one on the leaves and shoots of the food plant, seeming to prefer smaller plants.
The small caterpillars live hidden in a spun leaf. The older, larger caterpillars spin two neighbouring leaves together to make a safe shelter.
When they are fully-grown, the caterpillars go down to the foot of the food plant, and spin a few dried leaves together in which to pupate.
The butterfly is probably only single-brooded in the Alps, but has two or three generations a year in Spain.
It hibernates as a caterpillar.
Habitat:
Dry siliceous grasslands
Coastal sand-dunes
Screes
Similar species:
Carcharodus alceae
Carcharodus floccifera
Carcharodus orientalis