UK Butterflies

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Grizzled Skipper

Pyrgus malvae

PEER-guss MAL-vee

Wingspan
23 - 29 mm

Checklist Number
57.002

Grizzled Skipper

Pyrgus malvae

PEER-guss MAL-vee

Wingspan
23 - 29 mm

Checklist Number
57.002


Like most skippers, the Grizzled Skipper is extremely difficult to follow when in flight, but will stop to feed from various nectar sources. Once settled, the black and white pattern on the wings, from which this species gets its name, is unmistakable. The butterfly occurs in small colonies of less than 100 adults. A well-known aberration of this species, ab. taras, has all of the white spots on the forewings joined, forming a large white blotch. This butterfly is found in England south of a line extended from West Gloucestershire in the west to North Lincolnshire in the east, with strongholds in central and southern England. There are scattered colonies further north and in Wales. This species is absent from Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

This species was first defined in Linnaeus (1758) as shown here (type locality: Sweden).

 
Family:HesperiidaeLatreille, 1809
Subfamily:PyrginaeBurmeister, 1878
Tribe:  
Genus:PyrgusHübner, [1819]
Subgenus:  
Species:malvae(Linnaeus, 1758)

Description to be completed.

The distribution data (2000-2009) has been made available through the generosity of Butterfly Conservation and any subspecies distribution is taken from Riley (2007). Click here to see the distribution of this species together with site information overlaid.

This species occurs in different habitats that are all characterised by warmth, shelter, and sparse vegetation, such as chalk downland, woodland edges, woodland clearings, large woodland rides, unimproved grassland, hillsides, valleys and occasionally heathland.

The Grizzled Skipper is in decline and it is therefore a priority species for conservation efforts.

The table below shows the occurrence (distribution) and abundance (population) trends, using information from The State of the UK's Butterflies 2015 (Fox, 2015). Any UK BAP status is taken from the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) (2007 review).

UK BAP Status
Occurrence Change
1976-2014 (%)
Abundance Change
1976-2014 (%)
Occurrence Change
2005-2014 (%)
Abundance Change
2005-2014 (%)
Priority Species
Click here to access the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).
Large Decrease -53Decrease -37Stable +7Stable 0

The butterfly emerges throughout April and flies until the end of June. There is one generation each year, although there may be a small second brood in some years, when weather conditions are favourable.

This is a warmth-loving butterfly, and both sexes bask in the sun for long periods, typically on a stone, leaf or bare earth. This is an active butterfly which will fly at most times the day, and even into the evening, if conditions are warm enough. The butterfly uses several nectar sources, favourites being Bird's-foot Trefoil and Buttercup. The male is somewhat territorial and will chase any butterfly, irrespective of size, from its area. Females entering the territory are courted for a short period and, if the female is receptive, pairing occurs. The butterfly can be found roosting on heads of flowers and grasses during cool weather and at night.

Adults feed primarily on Bugle (Ajuga reptans), buttercups (Ranunculus spp.), Common Bird's-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Daisy (Bellis perennis), dandelions (Taraxacum spp.), Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea), Ragged-Robin (Silene flos-cuculi), Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) and Wild Thyme (Thymus polytrichus).

Eggs are laid singly on the underside of a leaf. Foodplants growing in warm positions, next to bare ground or short vegetation, are favoured. This stage lasts around 10 days.

"On May 23rd, 1910, the author captured a female at Hockley, Essex, which laid a few eggs on June 1st on both surfaces of the leaves of wild strawberry (F. vesca); these hatched on June 11th, remaining ten days in the egg state. On June 3rd, 1910, captured three females at rest on grass-heads in the same locality; they deposited many eggs during the following week on wild strawberry. By June 25th most of them had hatched. Again on May 17th, 1911, of thirteen specimens observed at Hockley, twelve were males; the only female captured laid about seventy eggs during the following ten days. All were laid on the under side of wild strawberry leaves, nearly all close to the margins of the leaves. Also again on May 29th, 1911, captured several females at rest on grass-heads at Hockley; four of these were placed on plants of wild strawberry the following morning. Several eggs were deposited that day (May 30th), which hatched on June 7th, 1911, being only eight days in the egg state. The egg is dome-shaped and measures 0.60 mm. wide and 0.50 mm. high; the micropyle is slightly sunken and finely reticulated with a network pattern. There are from eighteen to twenty very fine irregular white glassy keels from the crown to the base, where they disappear, and are prominent on the summit; some start just below the summit, and sometimes two or three make their appearance on nearing the base. Those starting at the top form a very irregular rim surrounding the micropyle. The surface between the keels is very finely transversely ribbed; the base is smooth, the entire surface is extremely finely granulated. The colour when first laid, and for a few days, is a clear, rather light green, which gradually becomes paler, but before hatching is greyer and more opaque. The egg is laid singly." - Frohawk (1924)

The larva eats the crown of the egg on hatching, and immediately moves to the upperside of the leaf, where it spins a web of silk across the midrib. The larva feeds on the leaf surface at first, leaving the leaf structurally intact. The larva moves to a new leaf, creating a new web, as necessary. In the 3rd instar, the larva creates a larger shelter by either spinning the edges of a leaf together, or by spinning two leaves together. The larva feeds primarily in early morning and evening, and spends a great deal of time resting, rather than feeding. Development is therefore relatively-slow, lasting around 2 months.

The primary larval foodplants are Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) and Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca). Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis), brambles (Rubus spp.), Dog-rose (Rosa canina), Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), Salad Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba ssp. sanguisorba), Silverweed (Potentilla anserina), Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) and Wood Avens (Geum urbanum) are also used.

1st Instar

"Directly after emergence the larva measures 1.2 mm. long. The head is large, black and shining, and sprinkled with white hairs; the segmental divisions are clearly defined, the segments are sub-divided into four or five transverse wrinkles. There are six longitudinal rows (three on each side above the spiracles) of roughened white glassy bifid hairs, shaped like a double fish-hook (T), three on each segment, placed in a triangle, first dorsal, second sub-dorsal and third super-spiracular; these have whitish bulbous bases; below the spiracle are two simple, sharply pointed white hairs, and two others on each clasper; on the first and last segments all the hairs are simple. The surface is minutely pitted, producing a rough granular texture. The colour is a very pale greyish-ochreous, which changes to light greenish-ochreous soon after feeding. Very soon after emergence the young larva selects the midrib of a leaf and spins a little covering of silken threads over itself, under which it lives, usually resting in the form of the figure 6. It generally crawls to about its own length from its resting place to feed on the upper cuticle of the leaf, and after a brief meal returns to its retreat; if it breaks away any of the silk threads while feeding it renews them." - Frohawk (1924)

2nd Instar

"The first moult, July 5th, 1910. Eight days after the first moult it measures 3.2 mm. long. The head is black, granular, and sprinkled with tiny white hairs of various lengths; on the first segment is a chitinous, black transverse dorsal collar, also bearing similar hairs to those on the head. The segments have five sub-divisions. The ground colour is citrine-yellow, checkered with olive-brown and speckled with whitish; from the centre of each whitish spot rises a minute white, cleft, knobbed hair; below the spiracles the hairs are simple. On the first sub-division of the segments is a sub-dorsal lenticle. The larva lives and feeds in a similar manner to that in the first stage, and is of slow growth." - Frohawk (1924)

3rd Instar

"After the second moult, measuring 6.3 mm. long, it is similar to the previous stage, excepting the hairs are longer. The larvae during this stage draw the edges of the leaves together and live concealed in the folds." - Frohawk (1924)

4th Instar

"After the third moult, 12.7 mm. long, the surface is rough and granular, the head and body more densely covered with hairs, each rising from a pale greenish-white spot on a dark olive-brown ground colour. The largest white spots are so arranged that they form sub-dorsal and lateral longitudinal wavy lines. A medio-dorsal line of dark brown, bordered on either side by whitish spots; the spiracles are yellow-ochreous, the last pair being large and conspicuous; the anal segments are paler than the rest. The other details are similar to those of the previous stage." - Frohawk (1924)

5th Instar

"The fourth and last moult occurred on August 10th, 1910. After the fourth moult, fully grown, about sixty days old, it measures 16 mm. long while resting and 19 mm. extended crawling. The head is black and covered with rough raised reticulations, forming a cellular surface, and clothed with pale ochreous, short, simple pointed hairs, and a few much longer ones. The first segment is proportionately very small; the body gradually tapers to the middle where it is stoutest; it then tapers off to the anal segment. The surface is finely granular and densely sprinkled with white tubercles, each bearing a white hair with a cleft tip. The ground colour is a pale green, with an olive-brown medio-dorsal stripe, and double dark olive and pale flesh-coloured stripes alternating; the sides are also faintly mottled with pinkish-drab and olive, which colours prevail over the dorsal surface. The first pair of legs are black, the second pair brown and the third pair pale ochreous; the claspers ochreous-green. It has no white waxy substance like other species. The anal comb consists of about twenty tines, and is fan-shaped, the central tines being the longest. During the last stage it still lives under the shelter of rolled-up leaves, generally formed of half a leaf folded up. The first one pupated August 20th, in an open loose network cocoon spun among the basal stems of a wild strawberry plant." - Frohawk (1924)

When fully-grown, the larva constructs a loose cocoon at the base of the vegetation, often among stems of the foodplant. The pupa is formed within the cocoon, secured by protrusions on the body and the cremaster, where it overwinters, this stage lasting around 9 months.

"The pupa measures 12.7 mm. in length. Lateral view: Head bluntly conical, thorax slightly swollen, meta-thorax rather sunken, abdomen almost straight dorsally, terminating in a long cremaster, provided with a bunch of long, curving, stalked hooks variously directed, resembling springs coiled at the ends. The ventral surface of the abdomen and wings forms a continuous curve to the head. Dorsal view: Head rounded, eyes rather prominent, slightly nipped round the middle, abdomen tapering. The surface is roughly granular; the wings and limbs are striated transversely, of a pale pearly-olive colouring, more or less densely covered with a white powdery substance, which is densest over the limbs and basal portion of the wings, and especially surrounding the prominent black thoracic spiracle. The head and thorax have the ground colour pale brown, and the abdomen light reddish-brown, blotched and speckled with black; the glazed eye-collar is black, the rest of the eye, head, thorax and abdomen are all densely clothed with amber-coloured, simple, sharply pointed bristles. The tongue only extends to the apex of wings, the spiracles are brown and the cremaster and hooks sienna-red; the latter are anchored to a mass of silk spun for the purpose in the loose network cocoon enclosing the pupa, which is always spun among the basal stems of the food plant. There is no cincture round the body; the abundance of bristles on the pupa retains it in position in the cocoon." - Frohawk (1924)