LEPIDOPTERA

• H E S P E R I I D A E Latreille, 1809

  • THYMELICUS Hubner, [1819]

    
    

    • Thymelicus sylvestris (Poda, 1761)

Thymelicus sylvestris (Poda, 1761)

• TYPE LOCALITY. Graz, Austria.

• SYNONYMS: flava Brunnich, 1763; thaumas Hufnagel, 1766; flavus Muller, 1776.

• RANGE. From N. Africa across S. and M. Europe to the Urals and across Asia Minor and the Middle East to Iran.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The European part, the Caucasus, Kopet-Dagh. Variable in ground colour and dark marginal suffusion of veins. The nominate subspecies is European, while in Transcaucasia and Kopet-Dagh it is replaced by the ssp. syriaca Tutt, 1905.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Meadows, sunny slopes, forest edges and other dry open habitats, in the mountains up to 2,000 m a.s.l. Flight period: May-August in a single generation depending on the altitude and latitude. Host plants: various grasses (Phleum, Holcus, Festuca etc.). The newly-hatched larva hibernating in a small cocoon.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. T. lineola: stigma short and straight, antennal club dark below. T. acteon: UPS ground colour darker, UNF with pale discal spots. T. hyrax: UPS ground colour dark, stigma broken at vein 2.

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997