Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)

Hi bonitin,

I have noticed your pics of the Small Skipper don't quite look correct, I'm thinking yours may be the the Essex Skipper. Points to note for the Small Skipper are the dark streak on the male's wing (which in Essex Skipper is shorter in the male) which points towards the middle of the bottom wing, antennae which are black on the back with orange under the club end. I can see neither of these on your pics although they may be female, the antennae are not showing orange under the club ends. This pic shows some sort of near horizontal black streak on the wing.

Essex Skipper,

http://www.leps.it/indexjs.htm?SpeciesPages/OchloVenat.htm

Here's a Small Skipper to compare,

http://www.leps.it/indexjs.htm?SpeciesPages/OchloVenat.htm

This is a good pic to compare, unfortunately I'm finding many wrong pics on many sites! To the casual observer they look much alike, lol.

http://www.pbase.com/ole_thorsen/image/64507754

This site says the clubs of antennae of Essex Skipper have black undersides, which this one has.

http://www.butterflygarden.co.uk/butterflies/essex_skipper.htm

http://www.butterflygarden.co.uk/butterflies/small_skipper.htm

I noticed both the links for leps.it go to the Large Skipper, just advance the 'next' button at the top right to the correct ones.

I think you must be right wallaby, thanks for pointing that out. I compaired all the pictures, the two skippers look very similar, specially if mine is a female (it was the same butterfly photographed on different flowers) I cannot use the determination factor of the dark streak on its wing, but mine indeed doesn't has orange on the underside of the clubs. I've made a cropped version of one of the pictures and there you can see that the underside of the club end also isn't black like stated with the Essex Skipper...But if there is only the choice between the two then it probably must be the last one..

I don't know of any other which might be close, but there are several with more markings on them. As yours doesn't have those, the choices are slimmed down. The tips of the antennae do look to be black at the very end underneath, I see what you mean about the rest, though I had noticed that myself but am banking on the very end part, lol.

There is a Lulworth Skipper, Thymelicus acteon

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Lulworth%20Skipper

The next site states it has a light curved arc on the upper forewing, visible in the bottom pic (I can see light through the underwing). It does state it is common throughout Europe, more in coastal areas.

http://www.butterfly-guide.co.uk/species/skippers/bret7.htm

All three are listed for Belgium, with Thymelicus acteon being 'local'.

http://www.butterfly-guide.co.uk/regions/country_list.htm?8*

As T. sylvestris is out, it's between the other two! Must have a closer look at your other pic!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say yours is the Lulworth Skipper, Thymelicus acteon, on David Elements site the antennae look like yours,

http://www.david.element.ukgateway.net/butterflies11hesperidae.htm

and looking at your other pic I would say I can see a curved arc at the top of the wing coming from the left side of the body.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/7150/

I wonder if Ken would agree with this, lol, I have contacted him about his pic too!

I have had a long look at all of this. I really don't think you can see the antennae well enough to use them in the identification.

I totally reject the Lulworth Skipper as an option, it has more markings on the wing, not present in these pictures.
It seems that the Little Skipper and Essex Skipper are the only real possibilities and they are very hard to tell apart.

My own opinion is that bonitin's images are both of female Little Skippers and should be left where they are. More pictures showing underneath of the antennae are what is needed LOL!

Ken

LOL indeed! It was a fun journey anyway!