Hesperiidae : Hesperiinae
Mediterranean Skipper
GEGENES nostrodamus (Fabricius, 1793)
Mediterranean Skipper
GEGENES nostrodamus (Fabricius, 1793)
Life Cycle Guide-Adult Only
Description
Alternative Names: Dingy Swift-UK : Veloz de las Rieras-"Fast of the streams"-Spain : Light Pygmy Skipper
Wingspan: 30-34mm-Male & Female
Worldwide Distribution: Mediterranean Coastal Regions including Algeria : Morocco : Tunisia : Egypt : Turkey : Middle East : Arabia : Iraq : Iran : Afghanistan : Pakistan : N.W.India
European Conservation Status -
Flight Period: April-October-Multivoltine,depending on location and conditions : First brood generally produce low numbers.
Habitat: Hot,Dry sparsely vegetated areas : Dry Gullies or River beds : Cultivated areas : Usually found in Mediterranean coastal areas
Ovum: The ovum is cylindrical in shape and is coloured yellowish
Larva: The larva feeds on Thistle of Gold SCOLYMUS hispanicus and Rice ORYZA sativa
Observations: In Alvor on the western end of the Portuguese Algarve my only encounters with this butterfly was within the grounds of my hotel where one year I found it adjacent to a Lantana bush on a concrete path that led to the coast.It was a very twitchy butterfly that would take to the air before a photo could be taken but almost instantaneously would return to the same location.
The following year I found one on the other side of the same hotel grounds adjacent to the garden rubbish tip where it settled on the chalky stone on a dry path shown in the photos below where eventually after numerous attempts it stayed a while.
I did not find this a butterfly one that could be searched for, but just merely encountered, which might explain some of the difficulty in identifying its larval food plants in Europe although Thistle of Gold and Rice has been identified.
The butterfly is very sensitive to agricultural and urban expansion,especially in the lowlands and the abandonment of such helps in the monitoring of the species in known populations.
Wingspan: 30-34mm-Male & Female
Worldwide Distribution: Mediterranean Coastal Regions including Algeria : Morocco : Tunisia : Egypt : Turkey : Middle East : Arabia : Iraq : Iran : Afghanistan : Pakistan : N.W.India
European Conservation Status -
- Least Concern
- Hesperia nostrodamus (Fabricius, 1793)
- Papilio pamilio Hoffmannsegg, 1803
- "Barbaria"-N W Africa
Flight Period: April-October-Multivoltine,depending on location and conditions : First brood generally produce low numbers.
Habitat: Hot,Dry sparsely vegetated areas : Dry Gullies or River beds : Cultivated areas : Usually found in Mediterranean coastal areas
Ovum: The ovum is cylindrical in shape and is coloured yellowish
Larva: The larva feeds on Thistle of Gold SCOLYMUS hispanicus and Rice ORYZA sativa
Observations: In Alvor on the western end of the Portuguese Algarve my only encounters with this butterfly was within the grounds of my hotel where one year I found it adjacent to a Lantana bush on a concrete path that led to the coast.It was a very twitchy butterfly that would take to the air before a photo could be taken but almost instantaneously would return to the same location.
The following year I found one on the other side of the same hotel grounds adjacent to the garden rubbish tip where it settled on the chalky stone on a dry path shown in the photos below where eventually after numerous attempts it stayed a while.
I did not find this a butterfly one that could be searched for, but just merely encountered, which might explain some of the difficulty in identifying its larval food plants in Europe although Thistle of Gold and Rice has been identified.
The butterfly is very sensitive to agricultural and urban expansion,especially in the lowlands and the abandonment of such helps in the monitoring of the species in known populations.
Photo Gallery
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
The Larval food plant in Europe is not recorded.
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
- Aeluropus ssp In the major group of angiosperms(Flowering Plants)-
Recorded in Sinai only - Imperata cylindrica - Cogongrass
- Oryza sativa - Asian Rice
- Panicum ssp - Panic or Switchgrass
- Scolymus hispanicus - Common Golden Thistle
- Aeluropus ssp In the major group of angiosperms(Flowering Plants)-
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily Tribe: Genus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species - GEGENES: Original Species Name: Species Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Hesperiidae Hesperiinae Gegenini GEGENES Hübner, 1819 Gegenes nostrodamus (Fabricius, 1793) - Papilio pamilio Hoffmannsegg, 1803 - HESPERIA nostrodamus (Fabricius, 1793) = Philoodus nostrodamus (Fabricius 1793) = Pamphila proclea Walker, 1870 = Gegenes karsana Moore, 1874 = Hesperia karsana Moore, 1875 = Gegenes pumilionimima Verity, 1931 = Gegenes megalegyna Verity, 1940 = Genenes nostrodamus - Entomologia systematica emendata et aucta 3 (1): 328, no. 246 - "Barbaria"-NW Africa |