Pyrgus centaureae

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Hesperiidae

'The Hesperiidae are members of the Superfamily Hesperioidea. Worldwide in distribution, skippers are richest in the tropics. More than 3,500 species are described, with approximately 275 in North America, many of which are found only in Arizona and Texas. Most skippers are small to medium, usually orange, brown, black, white, or gray. A few have iridescent colors. Skippers have large eyes, short antennae (often with hooked clubs), stout bodies, and three pairs of walking legs . Their flight is often rapid, making wing movement appear blurred. Adults of most species have long probicscises and feed on floral nectar, but some also take up nutrients from bird droppings. Males have scent scales found in modified forewing patches. Males of most species locate mates by perching (grass and giant-skippers), though some patrol, especially in the open-winged skippers. Globular eggs are laid singly.

'[1]

Subfamily Pyrginae

Pyrgines are primarily tropical American species of the Family Hesperiidae. There are approximately 80 North American species. Most genera are tropical, but the duskywings and checkered-skippers are mainly temperate and also occur in Eurasia . Adults of many species land with their wings open, although some perch with their wings closed or half open. They imbibe nectar from flowers, and males of many species take in moisture from moist sand or mud . Some adults also feed on bird droppings. Many tropical species rest underneath leaves when inactive . Females lay eggs singly. Most species lay eggs directly on host-plant leaves, while others lay on nearby plants or objects. Almost all species use broad-leafed plants as their caterpillar hosts, and caterpillars live in rolled-leaf or webbed-leaf shelters .[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Open areas near woods including valley bottoms , barrens , meadows, grassy hillsides, tundra , scrub oak openings.

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,875 meters (0 to 9,432 feet).[3]

Biology

Diet

Caterpillar hosts: Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), Canadian cinquefoil (Potentilla canadensis), varileaf cinquefoil (P. diversifolia), and cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus); all in the rose family (Rosaceae). Adult food: Nectar from flowers of low-growing plants including blueberry, wild strawberry, and Canadian cinquefoil.

Reproduction

Males patrol and occasionally perch all day in open areas in their search for receptive females. Eggs are deposited singly on leaves of the host plant. Caterpillars feed within shelters of webbed leaves.

Behavior

Flight: One brood from March-May in the south, requires 2 years to develop in the subarctic .

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Similar Species

Members of the genus Pyrgus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 27 species and subspecies in this genus:

P. albescens (White Checkered) · P. alveus (Large Grizzled Skipper) · P. alveus alveus (Large Grizzled Skipper) · P. andromedae (Alpine Grizzled Skipper) · P. armoricanus (Oberthür's Grizzled Skipper) · P. bellieri (Foulquiers Grizzled Skipper) · P. cacaliae (Dusky Grizzled Skipper) · P. carlinae (Carline Skipper) · P. carthami (Safflower Skipper) · P. centaureae (Grizzled Skipper) · P. centaureae freija (Freija's Grizzled Skipper) · P. cirsii (Cinquefoil Skipper) · P. communis (Common Checkered) · P. malvae (Grizzled Skipper) · P. malvae malvae (Grizzled Skipper) · P. malvoides (Southern Grizzled Skipper) · P. oileus (Tropical Checkered) · P. philetas (Desert Checkered-Skipper) · P. ruralis (Two-Banded Checkered-Skipper) · P. ruralis lagunae (Laguna Mountains Skipper) · P. scriptura (Small Checkered-Skipper) · P. serratulae (Olive Skipper) · P. sidae (Yellow-Banded Skipper) · P. sidae sidae (Yellow-Banded Skipper) · P. warrenensis (Warren's Skipper) · P. wyandot (Appalachian Checkered-Skipper) · P. xanthus (Mountain Checkered)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• A manual of North American butterflies by Charles J. Maynard. Boston: De Wolfe, Fiske, 1891. url .
• Annual report of the New Jersey State Museum. Trenton, N.J.: MacCrellish & Quigley, url p. 423.
• Bibliography (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1993. url p. 237, p. 319.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 18, p. 202, p. 205, p. 23, p. 26, p. 289, p. 3, p. 33, p. 337, p. 6.
• Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. New YorkAmerican Museum of Natural History1881- url p. 298.
• Butterflies and moths of Newfoundland and Labrador: the macrolepidoptera / [Ottawa]: Agriculture Canada, 1980. url p. 276, p. 314, p. 67.
• Catalogue of the family-group, genus-group and species-group names of the Hesperioidea (Lepidoptera) of the world / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1994. url p. 37, p. 51.
• Entomological news, and proceedings of the Entomological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia[Entomological Rooms of the Academy of Natural Sciences] url p. 114, p. 289, p. 289, p. 377, p. 99, p. 99.
• Entomological news. [Philadelphia]American Entomological Society, 1925- url , p. 192, p. 239.
• Journal of the New York Entomological Society. Lawrence, Kan.: Allen Press [etc.] url p. 273.
• Proceedings and transactions of the British Entomological and Natural History Society. London, British Entomological and Natural History Society. url p. 15.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Washington, Biological Society of Washington url p. 209.
• Psyche. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge Entomological Club url p. 186, p. 438.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 116 1952 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 151, p. 23, p. 239.
• The Entomologist's record and journal of variation. s.l., s.n. url p. 198, p. 206, p. 260, p. 374, p. 76.
• The Lepidopterists' news: the monthly newsletter of the Lepidopterists' Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Lepidopterists' Society, 1947-1958. url p. 76, p. 8, p. 98.
• The butterflies of the eastern United States and Canada: with special reference to New England / By Samuel Hubbard Scudder. Cambridge: The author, 1889. url p. 1951.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 17, 2008:

• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Butterflies and Skippers of Alberta Project
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Canadian National Collection
• of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Crispin S. Guppy Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Gerald Hilchie Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Lepidopterists Society Season Summaries 1973-1997
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Lyman Entomological Museum
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, New Brunswick Museum Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Norbert Kondla Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Northern Forestry Centre Arthropod Collection, Edmonton
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Provincial Museum of Alberta
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Ross A. Layberry Observations
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Royal British Columbia Museum Entomology Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Royal Ontario Museum: Entomology
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Royal Saskatchewan Museum Collection
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, Spencer Entomological Museum
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility, University of Guelph, Department of Environmental Biology
• Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Norwegian Lepidoptera collection, Oslo
• SysTax, SysTax
• The Swedish Museum of Natural History
• , Bugs
• University of Alaska Museum of the North, Kenelm W. Philip Lepidoptera Collection
• University of Helsinki, Department of Applied Biology, Lepidoptera collection of Hannu Saarenmaa
• University of Helsinki, Department of Applied Biology, Lepidopterological Society of Finland

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2602525
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Lep-187360.0
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 4490920
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 188605
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: IILEP38010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 15063

Footnotes

1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=19&sci=Hesperiidae&com=Skippers [back]
2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Thessia&search=Search [back]
3. Mean = 790.990 meters (2,595.112 feet), Standard Deviation = 665.050 based on 502 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.