(Rottemburg, 1775)
Lulworth Skipper
Description:
The Lulworth Skipper can be found on warm, dry grassland, with bushes or scrub nearby, or at the edge of woodland. In the north of its range, it is mostly found on calcareous grassland. Populations of the Lulworth Skipper are sometimes very large.
Eggs are laid on the withered leaves of many grasses. Directly after hatching, the small caterpillar spins itself a cocoon in which to hibernate. It does not begin to eat and grow until the following spring. It then builds itself a shelter by spinning blades of grass together, which it only leaves when looking for food. When fully grown, it pupates, changing into a green chrysalis suspended in the vegetation by a silken girdle.
The Lulworth Skipper is single-brooded, but on the Canary Islands there is a subspecies, T. a. christi, that has two to three generations a year.
Habitat:
Dry siliceous grasslands
Dry calcareous grasslands
Mesophile grasslands
Similar species:
Thymelicus lineola
Thymelicus sylvestris
Thymelicus hyrax