Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae)
2009 photos highlighted in yellow. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 14714_male_Var_22Apr09 | 16790_male_Alpes Maritimes_27Jun09 | 5103_male_Var_29Apr07 |
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| 5516_male_Var_15May07 | 05_16-32_male_Hautes Alpes_5Jun05 | 10596_female_Var_19May08 |
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| 5244_male_Var_8May07 | 14468_male_Rhone_12Apr09 |
One of several Pyrgus species that occur in France, but the only representative of this group in the UK. The other Pyrgus species, or at least the ones that are hard to differentiate, are on a generic Pyrgus page. It is slightly smaller than most other Pyrgus, and rather darker. The white marks are quite extensive, more so than most Pyrgus, and the (usually arched) submarginal marks are usually present to a greater or lesser degree. It is an early emerger, being on the wing in France from the end of April and single-brooded. I feel the cleft "clothes peg" discal mark, which appears on both the uph and the unh, is a clear indicator of malvae where there may otherwise be doubt. In addition, the underside is quite dark brown with pronounced yellower veins.
14714: a fresh male, with rather indistinct white markings in the usual places and some rather faint markings in the remaining areas. Altitude 220m.
16790: a fresh male, with a deep dark brown ground colour and strong white markings plus a white-ish band in the upf submarginal area. As such it could not be confused with any other Pyrgus species. Altitude 900m.
5103: a male, malvae in Var seem to be slightly larger than elsewhere, especially the UK, with a lighter brown ground colour, and more diffuse white marginal marks on both upperwings. The uph discal white mark, which looks like a clothes peg in most book illustrations, often looks like a horizontal line with two tails dangling from it. All in all, they look quite like other Pyrgus. Altitude 220m.
5516: a male, a rather black-brown ground colour, and extended post-discal spots in s2 and s3 in particular, an aberration but not to the extent of taras. Altitude 340m.
05_16-32: the rare aberration taras with extended white upf marks, which I have now seen on two occasions.
10596: a female, very sharply marked with highly sagittate submarginal markings, especially on the uph. A rather more worn male is approaching from below. Altitude 230m.
5244: a male, the ground colour is dark brown, the veins clearly lighter, and the unh discal mark in s4/5 veins (vein 5 that dissects s4/5 is not visible here) is cleft and shaped like an old-fashioned clothes peg. All of the white marks are very clearly contrasted on the background. Altitude 220m.
14468: a male, I think, even though the abdominal hair tuft is not entirely clear. The small discrete white marks show up well against the darker ground colour. Altitude 320m.
16790_male_Alpes Maritimes_27Jun09
05_16-32_male_Hautes Alpes_5Jun05
