Chequered skipper butterfly, Scottish wildlife, insects

Chequered Skipper Butterfly image The Chequered skipper or Arctic Skipper Carterocephalus palaemon, is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. This is the most distinctive of the skipper butterflies in Scotland with its chocolate-brown wings covered in pale yellow shapes. At only 2 cm long it is easily missed as it flies from flower to flower in May and June in its oak wood habitat.
This butterfly has a wingspan of 29 to 31 mm. The upper sides are a dark brown with a dusting of orange scales at the base of the wings and golden spots, giving it its English name of Chequered Skipper. The basic pattern on the underside is similar but the forewings are orange with dark spots, and the hind wings are russet with cream spots rimmed in black. The sexes are similar although females are generally slightly larger.
It is generally considered a woodland butterfly and breeds in and around damp woodland, favouring clearings and woodland paths and seems to have a particular attraction to blue woodland flowers.
The Chequered Skipper has been extinct in England since 1976 but has stable populations in western Scotland. It was only discovered in Scotland in 1939 where it is found grassland on the edges of open broad-leaved woodland.
In Scotland most eggs are laid on Purple Moor Grass, Molinia caerulea. They are laid in June or July and take about 10 days to hatch. On hatching the larvae make shelters from rolled grass blades tied with silk from where they emerge at night to feed. In the autumn they construct a hibernaculum by drawing together several blades and the fully grown larvae spend the winter here. Before hibernation they are a pale green, after hibernation they are a pale beige. Upon waking the following spring they make no attempt to feed and will rest on a blade of grass for up to a week before pupating. The pupae are a pale buff colour with dark lines running along the length and are well camouflaged. About five or six weeks later the adult emerges and can be seen on the wing between May and July depending on the latitude (later further north). A very active butterfly, it needs a lot of nectar and sunshine.

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Chequered Skipper Butterfly

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