Small heath (butterfly)
| Small heath | |
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| In Portugal | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Coenonympha |
| Species: | C. pamphilus |
| Binomial name | |
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Coenonympha pamphilus (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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The small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) is a butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae, (subfamily Satyrinae, commonly known as "the browns"). It is widespread in Eurasia and north-western Africa, preferring drier habitats than other Coenonympha. The larval host plants are grasses, notably sheep's fescue and rough meadow grass Poa trivialis.
Well-drained meadow and steppe habitats. In the mountains it reaches the subalpine zone (1,500–2,000 m above sea level)
The egg is green at first, afterwards becoming whitish or bone-coloured; later on, a brownish irregular ring appears a little above the middle, and there are various brownish freckles. It is finely ribbed, and the top is depressed, forming a hollow with a central boss. Laid in a cluster of four on a blade of grass, but this may have been accidental. Others were deposited singly on muslin and on fine grass, all in mid-June.
The caterpillar is a clear green, "with darker green dorsal stripe, and a spiracular stripe not so dark; the anal points pink" (John Hellins).
The chrysalis is "a delicate pale rather yellowish-green, with a faintly darker green dorsal stripe, the edge of the projecting wing-covers on each side whitish, outlined with a streak of reddish-brown; the abdomen freckled very delicately with paler green; the tip of the anal point, with a short streak of brownish-red on each side; the wing-cases faintly marked with darker green nervures" (South, 1906).
The larvae have lifespans of varying length, even within the same climate, thus the imagines of one generation may be seen over a long period. The butterfly usually has two, occasionally three, broods and is on wing from mid-May until early October (late June to mid-August in colder climates). The insect overwinters in its larval stage.
The small heath, like its cousin the wall brown, has been in serious decline across much of southern England for reasons unclear, and was accordingly designated as a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species (research only) by DEFRA in 2007.
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Wikipedia