Grizzled skipper

The grizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae) is a common butterfly from the family Hesperiidae that is widespread throughout Europe. It is a small Skipper (butterfly) with a chequered pattern on its wings that appears to be black and white. This butterfly can be found throughout Europe and is heavily concentrated in central and southern regions of England. The butterfly prefers three major types of habitat: woodland, grassland, and industrial. Referenced as a superspecies, Pyrgus malvae includes three semispecies: malvae, malvoides, and melotis. Eggs are laid on plants that will provide warmth and proper nutrition for development, such as A. euphoria. As larvae, their movement is usually restricted to a single plant, on which they will build tents, unless they move onto a second host plant. Larvae then spin cocoons, usually on the last host plant they have occupied, where they remain until spring. Upon emerging as adult butterflies, grizzled skippers are quite active during the day and tend to favour blue or violet-coloured plants for food. They also possess multiple methods of communication; for example, vibrations are used to communicate with ants, and chemical secretions play a role in mating. Exhibiting territorial behaviour, males apply perching and patrolling strategies to mate with a desired female. In terms of a species complex, Pyrgus malvae is considered a superspecies that consists of three semispecies, which exhibit geographic variations in the genitalia of both male and female butterflies. These three semispecies are considered to be the Pyrgus malvae, Pyrgus malvoides, and Pyrgus melotis types. This classification can also be described as a monophyletic clade. Significant isolation mechanisms exist to accentuate the division between the malvae type and melotis type, more than the difference between the malvae and malvoides types. In fact, interbreeding has been observed between the malvae and malvoides types, indicating their close relation - namely that they are both part of the same species. With its characteristic chequered black-and-white pattern, the grizzled skipper is quite distinctive. It is small, with an average forewing diameter of 12 millimeters, and closely resembles moths in appearance. Males and females can be differentiated by the shape of their wings: males have slightly more angular wings, while females have a more rounded wing shape. Larvae are coloured green and light brown with darker brown stripes. Pygrus malvae can be found throughout Western Europe in northern Scandinavia, parts of Greece, and some of the Mediterranean Islands. Its populations in many European countries appear to be quite stable. It is also present in Korea, as well as throughout the Mediterranean up to Middle Finland, and rarely in parts of Germany. Although grizzled skippers occupy three major forms of habitats, they tend to settle in environments with spring nectar plants, larval food plants (agrimony, creeping cinquefoil, wild strawberry, tormentil), ranker vegetation, and edges with scrub or woodland. Host plants are from the family Rosaceae with a focus on Agrimonia eupatoria as well as Potentilla. Woodland: This mainly consists of sparsely distributed vegetation and can have regions of bare ground that result from cutting or windblow. Grassland: These can result from three different patterns that involve animal grazing, scrub cutting, or disturbance by animals: 1) Scrubby grassland that includes bramble and wild strawberry 2) Unimproved grassland that include creeping cinquefoil 3) Unimproved grassland that includes agrimony. Industrial: Sparse vegetation with mainly wild strawberry or creeping cinquefoil depending on whether the environment is along a railway or clay working. These environments have typically been abandoned fairly recently.