| Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola (Ochsenheimer, 1808)) |
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Scientific name: Thymelicus lineola (Ochsenheimer, 1808) Common name: Essex Skipper French name: Hespérie du dactyle Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Rhopalocera Family: Hesperiidae Subfamily: Hesperiinae Wingspan: 26-30 mm. Biotope: Meadow with tall grass and flowers, hills up to 1800 m. Geographic area: Europe, East to the Ural, missing in Scandinavia and Scotland. North Africa. Flight time: May to August. Number of generations : 1 Caterpillar: Green with longitudinal and cross yellow stripes on each side. Yellow marks on the head. Host plant: Many graminae like Cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata). |
The underside of the antenna tip is a black colour. The upper side of the wings is tawny orange with a darker outer margin. There is a black short line in the middle of the male's forewing. There is a possible confusion with the Small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris - orange antenna tip undersides). The Small Skipper overwinters as newly-hatched caterpillar inside a small cocoon. |
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When you observe a small orange brown skipper you have to try to clearly see the colour of the underside of the antenna tip. If it's black, then this one is an Essex skipper. |
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The Essex skipper is not easy to see because of its small size. However all the Essex skippers I have observed have not been very shy. |
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I mainly observe Essex skippers in unimproved meadows. |
André Bon November 2008