Southern grizzled skipper

The southern grizzled skipper is a small checkered butterfly from southwestern Europe. Its dark wings have little white spots. It looks exactly like its close cousin, the grizzled skipper, so you cannot tell them apart just by looking.

How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Southern grizzled skipper compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It and the grizzled skipper are so alike that scientists have to look at tiny parts at the end of the body under a microscope to tell them apart.
It lives high up in the Alps, up to 2500 metres.
Its caterpillars grow slowly, so you can still find them in the middle of summer, often several on one plant.
It loves rough meadows and pastures. If people stop using the meadows or farm them too hard, it can disappear.
Most asked questions about Southern grizzled skipper
?How big is the southern grizzled skipper?
Its wings measure about 24 to 26 millimetres from tip to tip.
?How can you tell it from the grizzled skipper?
Only by looking at tiny body parts under a microscope. Mostly, scientists tell them apart by where they live.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pyrgus malvoides
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Pyrgus malvoides (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K. 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip