Nymphalidae : Satyrinae
Speckled Wood
PARARGE aegeria (Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
P.a.oblita Harrison, 1949-Scotland
P.a.insula Howarth, 1971-Isles of Scily
Speckled Wood
PARARGE aegeria (Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
P.a.oblita Harrison, 1949-Scotland
P.a.insula Howarth, 1971-Isles of Scily
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: Male : 35-41mm : Female : 38-42mm
Worldwide Distribution: P.a.tircus - British Isles : East France : North and Central Italy : Temperate Europe : North Turkey to Central and Southern Ural Mountains.
UK Distribution: P.a..tircus - Found throughout Britain with the exception of South and Northern Scotland : P.a.oblita - represents the subspecies found in Scotland : P.a.insula - represents the subspecies found on the isles of Scilly.
UK Conservation Status -
Flight Period: End March-Begining October-depending on altitude and locality : Bivoltine : Trivoltine in overlapping broods-as flight period.
Habitat: Woodland Clearings : Parks : Gardens
Ovum: The spring/autumn females are fussy where the pudding shaped cream coloured ovum is deposited,but usually settle for the underside of a leaf on various types of grasses like False Brome,Cock's-foot and Yorkshire-fog on isolated tufts growing in sheltered position.This usually means the sunny edges of woods,hedges or forest rides.
With higher ambient temperatures, the summer brood female can be less fussy, preferring to deposit the ova in shaded wooded areas or shrubs.
Larva: The ovum hatches after seven to ten days.The small larva feeds on the underside of the grass blade,preferring to eat from the outer edge inwards on and off during day and night.
Pupa: The chrysalis which can be pale or dark green is formed on a suspended grass blade or on nearby vegetation. Non hibernating pupa hatch after about ten days.
Overwinters as: Larva or Pupa
Observations: The Speckled Wood is our only butterfly that can overwinter in larval or pupal stage which is why butterfly can be seen as early as late March and as late as early October, allowing for overlapping broods throughout the butterfly year with three generations being the norm, where habitat and altitude and weather permit.
As the name suggest the Speckled Wood loves woodland clearings where in the dappled light he finds a sunlit leaf to perch on,where the sun shines up to the canopy, giving clear light for the butterfly to fight off any intruder who tries to take advantage of this pristine position to intercept females.
Over the past few decades the butterfly has recolonized many areas in eastern and northern England and Scotland possibly as a result of climate change.
The Speckled Wood is rarely seen feeding on flowers preferring aphid honeydew in the tree canopy although early spring and late summer when aphids are in short supply they are forced to nectar on flowers such as Dandelion,Violets,Cuckooflower,Bramble and Ragwort.
Worldwide Distribution: P.a.tircus - British Isles : East France : North and Central Italy : Temperate Europe : North Turkey to Central and Southern Ural Mountains.
UK Distribution: P.a..tircus - Found throughout Britain with the exception of South and Northern Scotland : P.a.oblita - represents the subspecies found in Scotland : P.a.insula - represents the subspecies found on the isles of Scilly.
UK Conservation Status -
- Least Concern
- Least Concern
- Papilio aegeria (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Papilio aegeria (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Southern Europe & N.Africa
Flight Period: End March-Begining October-depending on altitude and locality : Bivoltine : Trivoltine in overlapping broods-as flight period.
Habitat: Woodland Clearings : Parks : Gardens
Ovum: The spring/autumn females are fussy where the pudding shaped cream coloured ovum is deposited,but usually settle for the underside of a leaf on various types of grasses like False Brome,Cock's-foot and Yorkshire-fog on isolated tufts growing in sheltered position.This usually means the sunny edges of woods,hedges or forest rides.
With higher ambient temperatures, the summer brood female can be less fussy, preferring to deposit the ova in shaded wooded areas or shrubs.
Larva: The ovum hatches after seven to ten days.The small larva feeds on the underside of the grass blade,preferring to eat from the outer edge inwards on and off during day and night.
Pupa: The chrysalis which can be pale or dark green is formed on a suspended grass blade or on nearby vegetation. Non hibernating pupa hatch after about ten days.
Overwinters as: Larva or Pupa
Observations: The Speckled Wood is our only butterfly that can overwinter in larval or pupal stage which is why butterfly can be seen as early as late March and as late as early October, allowing for overlapping broods throughout the butterfly year with three generations being the norm, where habitat and altitude and weather permit.
As the name suggest the Speckled Wood loves woodland clearings where in the dappled light he finds a sunlit leaf to perch on,where the sun shines up to the canopy, giving clear light for the butterfly to fight off any intruder who tries to take advantage of this pristine position to intercept females.
Over the past few decades the butterfly has recolonized many areas in eastern and northern England and Scotland possibly as a result of climate change.
The Speckled Wood is rarely seen feeding on flowers preferring aphid honeydew in the tree canopy although early spring and late summer when aphids are in short supply they are forced to nectar on flowers such as Dandelion,Violets,Cuckooflower,Bramble and Ragwort.
Subspecies
P. a.tircus (Godart, 1821) - British Isles-not Scotland or Isles of Scilly : E France : N & C Italy
across temperate Europe & N Turkey to C & S Ural Mountains
P. a.tircus (Godart, 1821) - British Isles-not Scotland or Isles of Scilly : E France : N & C Italy
across temperate Europe & N Turkey to C & S Ural Mountains
Larval Food Plants Wordwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website
where further information like photos,physical
characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal
uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
- Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
- Poaceae - Gramineae - True Grasses Family
- Agrostis gigantea - Redtop
- Brachypodium pinnatum - Tor-grass
- Brachypodium sylvaticum - False Brome - Slender False Brome
- Cynodon dactylon - Bermuda Grass
- Dactylis glomerata - Cock's-foot - Orchard grass
- Elymus repens - Couch grass
- Holcus lanatus - Yorkshire-fog
- Lolium perenne - Perennial Ryegrass
- Melica nutans - Mountain Melic
- Melica uniflora - Wood Melick
- Oryzopsis miliacea - Smilo Grass
- Poa annua - Annual Meadow Grass
- Poa nemoralis - Wood Meadow-grass
- Poa trivialis - Rough-stalked meadow-grass
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
- Poaceae - Gramineae - Bromus - Bromes / Hordeum - barley etc
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily: Tribe: Subtribe: Genus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species-PARAGE: Original Species Name: Species Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Forms/Aberrations: Subspecies: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Nymphalidae Satyrinae Elymniini Lethina PARARGE Hübner, [1819] Parage aegeria (Linnaeus, 1758) - Papilio aegeria (Linnaeus, 1758) - PAPILIO aegeria (Linnaeus, 1758) = Satyrus tircis Godart 1821 = Coenonympha egerides Staudinger 1871 = Pararge aegeria elegantia Fruhstorfer, 1909 - Syst. Nat. (Edn 10) 1 : Title page : p.473 n.98 - Southern Europe & N Africa - P.a. bilinea Verity, 1953 P.a. cockaynei Goodson, 1951 P.a. conjuncta Schnaider, 1950 P.a. infranigrans Verity, 1920 P.a. kulczynskii Prüffer, 1921 P.a. latefasciata Lempke, 1957 P.a. saturatior Crombrugghe, 1911 P.a. venata Lempke, 1957 - P.a.tircus Godart, 1821-British Isles-not Scotland or Isles of Scily: E France : N & C Italy across temperate Europe & N Turkey to C & S Ural Mountains P.a.oblita Harrison, 1949-Scotland P.a.insula Howarth, 1971-Isles of Scily P.a.aegeria Linnaeus, 1758-Maghreb : Iberian Peninsula : Balearic Islands : Madeira : S & SW France : SW Switzerland : Peloponnesus : Corsica : Sardinia : Sicily : S Italy : Crete : Lesbos : Kos : Karpathos Islands : Cyprus : S Turkey : Near East |
