Yellow-banded Skipper (pyrgus sidae)
2007 photos highlighted yellow Click on photo to enlarge or scroll down
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| 0481_male_Var_9May06 | 5669_female_Var_25May07 |
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| 0529_male_Var_10May06 |
A charming, above-average sized pyrgus with a very distinctive underside. It is very localised, but I have found it quite widespread in Var in lowland areas (it does not seem to occur at altitude, unlike most of its pyrgus cousins) where its foodplant, potentilla hirta, grows, and it seems to be very closely tied to the foodplant. In France, it only occurs in the far south-east. It is an early season (May) butterfly, and appears to be single brooded. It is quite large compared to other pyrgus (you have to have seen quite a few for this to be obvious) and the uph is quite strongly and characteristically marked with a row of white submarginal splashes (sometimes the uph markings looking like a series of exclamation marks) which could only be confused with the Safflower Skipper (P. carthami). Also, notwithstanding the colouring, the pattern of the unh markings is quite similar to carthami.
It gets its name from the very distinctive underside as shown in 0529, which is completely unlike any other pyrgus. It doesn't often sit with wings closed unless roosting, and I only got this shot in overcast weather. The subspecies occiduus is the form that occurs in Provence, differing from the nominate form which only occurs from the Balkans eastwards, in that the yellow bands are somewhat paler, and the ups marks are less developed. However, this does not seem to accord with my experience, in that the upf white markings are very strong and the unh yellow bands are quite a strong yellow and sharply outlined in black, so I rather doubt that the books (T&L and H&R) are correct. Also, neither book makes any reference to the occiduus foodplant being potentilla hirta; Lafranchis does refer to potentilla hirta but unhelpfully includes only an underside photo taken in Turkey.
0481: a male with a quite pale brown ground colour, contrasting well with the strong white upf marks, and characteristic uph discal and submarginal marks, with almost an intermediary series of marks between them. It is characteristically sitting on its foodplant, potentilla hirta. Altitude 185m.
5669: a female, slightly paler than the male (e.g. 5382) but having the same markings. Altitude 185m.
0529: a male underside. I doubt that this is occiduus as the yellow bands are very strong and the borders black and strong. Having seen many sidae in 2006 and 2007, I did not see any with pale unh yellow bands conforming to the books' descriptions of occiduus. Altitude 250m.
