The carline skipper (''Pyrgus carlinae'') is a

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

and a species of the skipper (family Hesperiidae). It is only found in southwestern areas of the Alps and can be an abundant species within this restricted range. As with most ''Pyrgus'' species, the carline skipper can be difficult to identify in the field. The dark brown upper forewings are marked with relatively small white markings but can usually be separated from the

olive skipper The Olive Skipper (''Pyrgus serratulae'') is a species of skipper (family Hesperiidae). Description This is a relatively distinctive species by the standards of the genus, the upperside tending to be plainer than most of its congeners with o ...

(''Pyrgus serratulae'') by a c-shaped white mark close to the

costa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...

and the reddish-brown, not olive green, colour of the under hindwings, with a large square pale spot close to the margin. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 26–28 mm. The adults are on the wing from June to August. 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. The ...

l food plant is spring cinquefoil.

References

* Whalley, Paul - Mitchell Beazley Guide to Butterflies (1981, reprinted 1992)

External links

Barcodes of life

Fauna Europaea

Lepiforum.de
{{Taxonbar, from=Q290749 Pyrgus Butterflies of Europe Butterflies described in 1839 Taxa named by Jules Pierre Rambur