Muschampia lavatherae
Muschampia lavatherae, the marbled skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from the Rhine Rift Valley in central Germany up to North Africa and from south-eastern France up to Anatolia.
| Muschampia lavatherae | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hesperiidae |
| Genus: | Muschampia |
| Species: | M. lavatherae |
| Binomial name | |
| Muschampia lavatherae (Esper, 1783) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Carcharodus lavatherae Esper, 1783 | |
The wingspan is 28–34 mm.
Description in Seitz
C. lavatherae Esp. (85 a). Yellowish grey or ash-colour; hindwing darker, with two rows of distinct, almost white, spots. Underside of hindwing with two small grey bands in the centre. — Southern Europe, North Africa, Syria, Armenia. [1]
Biology
The butterfly gives one generation per year and flies from May to July depending on the location.[2]
The larvae feed on Stachys recta and Sideritis scordioides in Southern Europe.
This species was formerly a member of the genus Carcharodus. As a result of genomic research published in 2020, it was transferred to the genus Muschampia.[3]
References
- Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)
- Marbled Skipper at Butterfly Conservation Armenia
- Zhang, Jing; Brockmann, Ernst; Cong, Qian; Shen, Jinhui; et al. (2020). "A genomic perspective on the taxonomy of the subtribe Carcharodina (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Carcharodini)". Zootaxa. 4748 (1): zootaxa.4748.1.10. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4748.1.10. PMC 8018707. PMID 32230093.
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