Coenonympha pamphilus

• Subfamily: Satyrinae - Coenonymphini
• Wingspan: 24-32 mm
• Flight period: Apr - Oct
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Poaceae - Gramineae, Festuca, Poa

Information

The Coenonympha pamphilus alco called Small Heath is a butterfly belonging to the Nymphalidae family with a wingspan of 24-32 mm. It is distributed throughout Europe and is very common with numerous populations throughout Italy, including the islands.*

The Coenonympha pamphilus has bright yellow-chamois colored wings, tawny above with subapical ocello, best visible on the underside of the wing. The lower page of the rear wing is gray in color with a spot, of variable size, of a lighter color. **

Bivoltine butterfly, sometimes trivoltine with a third generation in October, it is possible to see it fly from April to October, it overwinters as a larva. Distributed on any grassy environment from the basal to the alpine level.

The egg initially green, then becomes whitish or ivory, in a further phase an irregular brown ring appears above the median line of the same, together with some freckles always of brown color.

The caterpillar has a green integument on which a dark green mid-dorsal line and a whitish band at the level of the stigmas stand out.

The chrysalis of a delicate green color, darker in the dorsal area, has protruding whitish edges outlined by a reddish brown stripe; the abdomen is freckled.

It feeds on Poaceae of the gen. Poa, Cynosurus, Anthoxanthum, Festuca, Gramineae etc.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - European Fauna https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/