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Sticker of Oberthür's grizzled skipper
Bug card No. 3082 of 4,939

Oberthür's grizzled skipper

Pyrgus armoricanus
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesGardens and meadows6 legs

Oberthür's grizzled skipper is a small, quick butterfly with dark brown wings covered in white spots, like a little chequerboard. Its wings have a white fringe all around the edges. It loves sunny, open places with bare patches of ground.

Lives in
North-west Africa, southern and central Europe to southern Scandinavia, and east to Iran
Wingspan
2.4 to 2.8 cm (0.94 to 1.1 in)
Top speed
about 29 km/h (18 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The butterflies drink nectar from many kinds of flowers. Its caterpillars eat cinquefoil and wild strawberry leaves.
For real!Photo of Oberthür's grizzled skipper
Picture by Charlie Jackson. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Oberthür's grizzled skipper wings about 2.8 cm tip to tip (1.1 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
wings as wide as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 13 seconds

How big is Oberthür's grizzled skipper compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It looks so much like its cousins that sometimes only an expert with a microscope can tell them apart.

2

It looks for bare spots of ground to sunbathe on.

3

The female lays her eggs one by one on the underside of leaves in full sun.

4

In warm years there can be two or even three families of it in one summer.

5

Its eggs are yellowish and round, with strong ridges running down them.

you asked

Most asked questions about Oberthür's grizzled skipper

?What does Oberthür's grizzled skipper eat?

The butterflies drink nectar from flowers, and the caterpillars eat cinquefoil and wild strawberry.

?Where does Oberthür's grizzled skipper live?

In north-west Africa, Europe up to southern Scandinavia, and east to Iran. It does not live in Britain.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Pyrgus armoricanus
Group
Butterflies
Family
Hesperiidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
Lives on
Africa, Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Oberthür's grizzled skipper (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Charlie Jackson. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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