''Spialia orbifer'', the orbed red-underwing skipper or Hungarian skipper 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 ...

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 found from south-eastern

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 ...

and temperate

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. The habitat consists of steppe on plains and grassy slopes in the mountains. This has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of ''

Spialia sertorius ''Spialia sertorius'', the red-underwing skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. Description The red-underwing skipper can be confused with the species of the genus ''Pyrgus''. The underside has a cinnamon-red to yellowish base tone, ...

'' but can be distinguished by the olive green (rather than reddish-brown) underside of the

hindwing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwi ...

. 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 24–28 mm. Adults are on wing from April to August in one or two generations per year.Russian Insects
/ref> The larvae feed on ''

Rubus idaeus ''Rubus idaeus'' (raspberry, also called red raspberry or occasionally European red raspberry to distinguish it from other raspberry species) is a red-fruited species of ''Rubus'' native to Europe and northern Asia and commonly cultivated in othe ...

'', ''

Sanguisorba officinalis ''Sanguisorba officinalis'', commonly known as great burnet, is a plant in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. It is native throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, northern Asia, and northern North America. It ...

'', ''

Sanguisorba minor ''Sanguisorba minor'', the salad burnet, garden burnet, small burnet, burnet (also used for ''Sanguisorba'' generally), pimpernelle, Toper's plant, and burnet-bloodwort, is an edible perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae. It has fe ...

'' and '' Potentilla gelida''.

Subspecies

*''Spialia orbifer orbifer'' (South-eastern Europe to south-western Siberia, northern Iran and Sicily) *''Spialia orbifer hilaris'' (Staudinger, 1901) (south-eastern Turkey to Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, northern Iraq and western Iran) *''Spialia orbifer carnea'' (Reverdin, 1927) (Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Chitral) *''Spialia orbifer lugens'' (Staudinger, 1886) (Tian-Shan, north-eastern Iran, Transcaspia, southern Siberia to the Amur region) *''Spialia orbifer pseudolugens'' P. Gorbunov, 1995 (Altai, southern Urals)

References

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

External links

Lepiforum.de
Spialia Butterflies described in 1823 Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Europe {{Pyrginae-stub