Lulworth skipper

Thymelicus acteon phoenix

A skipper with a wingspan of 23-28 mm, smaller than the other “golden skippers,” females are often larger with golden “sunray” areas on the forewings, but the general colour is a distinct orange-brown with no markings. The Lulworth lives in many habitats such as coasts, scrub, thickets, woodland, dry grassland, and steppe. Host plants include coach-grass (Agropyron repens), feather reed-grass (Calamagrostis epigejos), velvet-grass (Holcus lanatus), bromes (Bromus spp.), false-bromes (Brachypodium spp.), and meadow-grasses (Poa spp.). It flies May through July, the flight is fast, darting, and whirling. This butterfly is considered near threatened.

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