| Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus (Linnaeus, 1771)) |
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Scientific name: Pyronia tithonus (Linnaeus, 1771) Common name: Gatekeeper Other names: Hedge Brown French name: Amaryllis Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Rhopalocera Family: Nymphalidae Subfamily: Satyrinae Wingspan: 30-38 mm Biotope: Sunny woodland edges and hedgerows, especially with a sandy ground. Geographic area: Europe, missing in Scandinavia and Southern Italy. Asia Minor and the Caucasus, locally in Morocco. Flight time: July to September. Number of generations : 1 Caterpillar: Bright green with a thin yellow line on each side. The head is pale, the tail is darker and thin. Host plant: Various grasses like Cocksfoot Grass (Dactylis glomerata) and Timothy-grass (Phleum pratense). |
The upperside of the wings is a brownish-orange colour, with a wide dark brown outer margin. The forewing shows a black eye-spot with a typical double white pupil. The underside of the hindwing is a mid-brown colour with a paler transverse bar showing four small and hardly visible white spots. Both sexes are almost similar. Males have a broad dark brown patch on the middle of their forewings. |
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After having gathered nectar on Lavender in my garden, this Gatekeeper is resting on a Virginia Creeper leaf. |
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The sun is going down over the horizon. Gatekeepers are resting on the hedgerow edge, with wide open wings. The dark patches (or androconial patches) on the middle of the forewings show that this one is a male. |
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I have shot this picture in my garden. The Gatekeeper was landed on Lavender. This is one of the very first butterfly picture I've shot with my digital camera. The focus distance is about 30cm. I used 50mm lenses. You can see the rolled up proboscis. |
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I have shot this picture in my garden. The Gatekeeper was landed on Lavender. Gatekeepers are used to gathering nectar with their wings closed. You can easily notice here:
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André Bon September 2010