''Hesperia comma'', the silver-spotted skipper or common branded skipper, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group compris ...

of the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

. It is known as silver-spotted skipper in Europe and common branded skipper in North America where the butterfly ''

Epargyreus clarus ''Epargyreus clarus'', the silver-spotted skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is claimed to be the most recognized skipper in North America. occurs in fields, gardens, and at forest edges and ranges from southern Canada thro ...

'', a

spread-winged skipper Pyrginae, commonly known as spread-winged skippers, are a subfamily of the skipper butterfly family (Hesperiidae). The subfamily was established by Hermann Burmeister in 1878. Their delimitation and internal systematics has changed considerably i ...

, also has the common name of "silver-spotted skipper".

Appearance, behaviour and distribution

Often confused with the large skipper ''Ochlodes venata'', this species is easily distinguished by the numerous white spots on the underside hindwings, and the tips of the upper forewings tend to be darker than those of the large skipper. Also their flight periods rarely overlap; in Britain the large skipper has all but finished when the silver-spotted takes to the wing in August. The silver-spotted skipper prefers warm

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

sites and has a wide distribution as far south as North Africa, northwards throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

to the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and eastwards across Asia to China and Japan. It also has subspecies in North America. In the UK it is rare and restricted to

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...

downlands of southern England.

Subspecies

* ''Hesperia comma benuncas'' (Oberthur 1912) * ''Hesperia comma borealis'' Lindsey 1942 – Labrador branded skipper * ''Hesperia comma catena'' (Staudinger 1861) * ''Hesperia comma colorado'' (Scudder 1874) * ''Hesperia comma dimila'' (Moore 1874) * ''Hesperia comma hulbirti'' Lindsey 1939 – Hulbirt's branded skipper * ''Hesperia comma laurentina'' (Lyman 1892) – Laurentian branded skipper * ''Hesperia comma lena'' Korshunov & P. Gorbunov 1995 * ''Hesperia comma manitoba'' (Scudder 1874) – Manitoba branded skipper * ''Hesperia comma mixta'' Alpheraky 1881 * ''Hesperia comma pallida'' Staudinger 1901 * ''Hesperia comma planula'' Korshunov 1995 * ''Hesperia comma shandura'' Evans 1949 * ''Hesperia comma sushinki'' Korshunov 1995

Life cycle and foodplants

Females lay single eggs during August and September on the leaf blades of

sheep's fescue ''Festuca ovina'', sheep's fescue or sheep fescue, is a species of grass. It is sometimes confused with hard fescue (''Festuca trachyphylla''). General description It is a perennial plant sometimes found in acidic ground, and in mountain pastur ...

''Festuca ovina'', the only foodplant, and occasionally on nearby plants. The females are very fussy where they lay; most eggs in the UK are laid in short turf, up to 4 cm, and often next to patches of bare ground. This species overwinters as an egg and hatches in March. Like other skippers the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e construct small tent-like structures from leaf blades and silk from which to feed. They enter the

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

l stage after 14 to 15 weeks at the base of the foodplant. Pupation takes 10 to 14 days, and as with most butterflies the males emerge first.

Recent resurgence in the UK

Concerted conservation efforts in the UK, backed by government agencies, have seen this once-threatened species thriving in certain areas. Numbers have increased by some 1500% over the last twenty years; the number of sites has increased from just 68, with 202 new sites established. Conservation schemes have focussed on providing the silver-spotted skipper with suitable habitats, with positive results.

References and external links

*Barnett LK and Warren MS
Species action plan. Silver-spotted Skipper ''Hesperia comma''
Butterfly conservation October 1995.

The Butterflies of Norway site] *Cirrus Digital Imagin
Silver-spotted skipper aka Epargyreus clarus: reference photographs - North America
*Jim Asher et al. ''The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies of Britain and Ireland'' Oxford University Press

Butterfly Conservation Armenia
{{Taxonbar, from=Q630602 Hesperia (butterfly), comma Butterflies described in 1758 Butterflies of Africa Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Europe Butterflies of North America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Appearance, behaviour and distribution

Subspecies

Life cycle and foodplants

Recent resurgence in the UK

See also

References and external links