The dingy skipper (Erynnis tages) is a species of butterfly in the family Hesperiidae.

Description

Erynnis tages is different from other skippers because of the predominantly monochrome, gray-brown wing coloration and the marbling, which is only present on the upper side of the forewings, as well as a series of small white dots on the wing edge. It is probably the most moth-like British butterfly and normally rests with its wings in a moth-like fashion. This well-camouflaged, brown and grey butterfly can be confused with the grizzled skipper, the Mother Shipton moth or the burnet companion moth. Faded specimens of Carcharodus alceae are distinguished by glass spots in the forewing and by a jagged rear wing edge. A special feature is the restraint of the imagos, which is reminiscent of a deltoid moth with its roof-shaped wings placed one on top of the other.

Description in Seitz

Th. tages L. (86 c). Forewing grey-brown, with two oblique black bands, which are proximally edged with yellowish grey. A marginal row of small light dots and two apical dots, of which one is transparent. Hindwing black, in quite normal specimens without spots. Throughout Europe and Northern Asia to the Amur. ab. clarus [Caradja, 1895 ab.] are very pale specimens, which may occur everywhere among true tages. — popoviana Nordm. (= sinina Gr.-Grsh.) [now species Erynnis popoviana] (86 c) is hardly more than a synonym; light grey, with a row of white marginal dots and second similar row in the centre, the hindwing with a light discocellular spot. Dauria. Amur, China.

— unicolor Frr. [ now subspecies] (86 c) is uniformly brown grey without any markings, Greece and Asia Minor. —

cervantes Grasl.[now E. tages ssp. cervantes Graslin, 1836 ] (86 d). Larger and much darker than true tages. The dark bands obsolete or only indicated by black streaks: the marginal dots scarcely visible. South Spain. — Larva green with the head brown and yellow lateral stripe dotted with black: on Eryngium and Lotus, in July and late in the autumn. Pupa green, with reddish abdomen. The butterflies in April and May and again from July onward, everywhere plentiful. They fly low above the ground and like to settle on roads.

Taxonomy

Subspecies are little defined and include E. t. unicolor Freyer, 1852 found in Transcaucasia and E. t. baynesi found in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland.

Synonyms: Erynnis morio SCOPOLI, 1763; Erynnis geryon ROTTEMBURG, 1775 It is widely but patchily distributed across Britain. It occurs further north than any other skipper in Scotland with some isolated colonies in the Inverness region. It is also one of the two skippers to be found in Ireland, again with a patchy distribution but the main strongholds along the western side. It is on the decline in several European countries including the UK and Armenia.

Habitat

Erynnis tages favours open grassy habitats up to 2,000 metres above sea level. A variety of habitats are used including chalk downland, woodland clearings, coastal dunes, railway lines and waste ground.

The habitats of the dingy skipper are mainly dry and poor grasslands. Extensive grassland with one or two-tier meadows and pastures as well as habitats with little vegetation with raw soil and initial plant communities are also regularly populated. In forests, the imagos fly in very sparse wooded stands or on forest meadows, on the edges of paths and forest edges. The species is also found in fens. Suitable habitats are disturbances such as paths with a dry, warm microclimate.

See also

  • List of butterflies of Great Britain

References

  • Butterfly Conservation
  • Lepidoptera of Norway
  • UK Butterflies
  • Butterfly Conservation Armenia