(Wallengren, 1853)
Alpine Grizzled Skipper
Description:
The Alpine Grizzled Skipper occurs in damp, moist, grassy places, often near streams or bogs in the Alps and Pyrenees. In Scandinavia, they are seen on dwarf scrub vegetation and also in rocky places on steep slopes. The larval food plants differ according to the location. In Switzerland, Common Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) is used, in Scandinavia, various mallows (Malva spp.), and a sort of lady's-mantle (Alchemilla glomerulans). For Spain, mallows and lady's-mantles have been reported as food plants.
The caterpillars live in a communal shelter of spun leaves. They hibernate, pupating in a similar shelter the following spring.
It is single-brooded.
Habitat:
Alpine grasslands
Similar species:
Pyrgus cacaliae
Pyrgus centaureae