Pyrgus carthami

Safflower Skipper (Pyrgus carthami)

2011 photos highlighted in green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


26153_male_Alpes-Maritimes_02Jul11	26587_male_Alpes-Maritimes_08Jul11	26873_male_Alpes-Maritimes_10Jul11

26986_male_Hautes-Alpes_12Jul11	16468_male_Var_22Jun09	20871_male_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence_19Jun10

7282_female_Alpes-Maritimes_24Jun07	21229_male_Alpes-Maritimes_2Jul10	21672_male_Alpes-Maritimes_7Jul10

16488_female_Var_22Jun09	20776_male_Var_14Jun10	1607_male_Var_5Jun06

This is relatively easy to differentiate from its Pyrgus cousins because it is significantly larger and has broad, rounded wings. It has a charcoal-grey colouring when fresh and has pale hair at the wing bases to a greater extent than other Pyrgus species. It has a powerful, often easy to follow, flight. the upf marking are strong and clear white, often elongated, and the cell spot is often Σ-shaped.

From the upperside it could only be confused with the Yellow-banded Skipper (P. sidae). The uph markings are quite characteristic, especially the sub-marginal discal series of often elongated discrete white streaks. The underside is also quite characteristic as the unh white margin is continuous along the whole of the wing, and no other Pyrgus has this. It is a butterfly of medium to higher altitudes.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
26153	M	*a very fresh carthami, with a strong grey-brown ground colour and rather weaker white markings.*	1400
26587	M	very strong white markings especially on the uph.	1400
26873	M	a melanic aberration, although surprisingly the uph submarginal series seems unaffected.	2320
26986	M	very pronounced and rather jagged white markings especially on the upf and the uph submarginal series is unusually sagittate, as compared to the usual series of dashes, as on others on this page.	2010
16468	M	a fresh male (I suspect, even though the abdominal hair tuft is not completely visible), showing the strong and rather horizontal and jagged upf white markings.	920
20871	M	*classic carthami* colouring and I suspect it may have only just emerged. The upf markings are quite small but the uph markings are strong and unmistakeable. 20776 is the underside of this specimen.**	900
7282	F	a female from the body shape, and I originally thought this was (or could be) an Alpine Grizzled Skipper (P. andromedae), never having seen this species before 2007. The options were carthami or andromedae. The ground colour is a dark grey-brown for both. The almost completely unmarked uph is suggestive of andromedae, as are the two upf s7 long oblique discal streaks. The upf marks are quite strong, but T&L shows the female andromedae to be more heavily marked than the male, unusually for Pyrgus species generally. The upf s1/2 discal marks are really not in evidence, but may be obscured, so this may not be conclusive. The elongated upf marks point strongly toward carthami and the small uph submarginal dots are indicative of carthami, so I am inclined to go for carthami but comment is invited. Having now seen andromedae for certain (it has a rather scruffy appearance compared to some of the neater Pyrgus), the whole look and feel of 7282 strongly suggest that it is not andromedae.	2100
21229	M	*the upf markings may afford some element of doubt. The colouring points strongly to carthami* and the uph sub-marginal white marks, elongated, narrow, and well-separated, confirm carthami.**	900
21672	M	very strong and elongated upf marks.	1400
16488	F	a female, I think clearly shown by the body shape. The upf white markings are quite strong, probably more so than the male, and the uph markings quite faint; as such it matches the illustration in T&L almost perfectly.	920
20776	M	the underside of 20871, showing the continuous white margin. This angle also shows the beautifully curved wing shape to good effect.	920
1607	M	the unh ground colour is quite a faded brown, darker around the white marks giving a mottled effect.	850