(Pallas, 1771)
Large Chequered Skipper
Description:
The conspicuous pattern on the underside of the wings of the Large Chequered Skipper is unlike that of any other European butterfly. Furthermore, it has a characteristic, bouncing flight, low over the vegetation. It occurs in damp, rough, grassy places, such as grasslands, road verges, edges of streams, at the edges of raised bogs, and in woodland clearings. The populations are often small. Its existence is severely threatened by the drainage of its habitat.
The eggs are laid singly or in small batches on the blades of grasses, such as Purple Moor-grass (Molinea caerulea) or Purple Smallreed (Calamagrostis canescens). The caterpillar makes a tubular shelter from grass, at first using a folded blade, and later using spun grass-blades. However, it leaves its shelter in search of food. The caterpillars pass the winter in the shelter, making it stronger before they pupate. They then attach themselves to it by a silken girdle, and a small pale-green chrysalis is formed.
The Large Chequered Skipper has one generation a year.
Habitat:
Mesophile grasslands
Humid grasslands
Similar species:
Carterocephalus palaemon
Carterocephalus silvicola