Ochlodes sylvanus

• Subfamily: Hesperiinae
• Wingspan: 26-32 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Poaceae

Information

The Ochlodes sylvanus also called Large Skipper is a medium sized moth with its wingspan of 28 - 32 mm. It is distributed throughout Europe with the exception of Ireland. In Italy it is present everywhere with the exception of Sardinia. *

The Ochlodes sylvanus has the upper part of the wings of a bright brown-orange / reddish color. The hind wing is tawny underneath (in both sexes with shades), with lighter spots, in the male a black streak is clearly visible on the back of the front wings also called androconial mark. The female is characterized by a darker colouration of the wings with quadrangular yellow spots. **

At rest, the front wings are kept half closed and the hind wings completely open.

It can be confused with the Hesperia comma but the latter on the reverse of the rear wings has silver spots and the hook with which the antennae terminate is less pronounced.

Monovoltine butterfly flickers between June and August. It frequents various environments from the plains to the mountain (2000 meters) , overwinters as a mature larva.

There are many host plants and include several species of Poaceae such as Dactylis glomerata, Molinia caerulea, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Calamagrostis epigejos and others.


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