Muschampia lavatherae, the marbled skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found from the Rhine Rift Valley in central Germany up to North Africa and from south-eastern France up to Anatolia.

Muschampia lavatherae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Muschampia
Species:
M. lavatherae
Binomial name
Muschampia lavatherae
(Esper, 1783)
Synonyms

Carcharodus lavatherae Esper, 1783

The wingspan is 28–34 mm.

Description in Seitz

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C. lavatherae Esp. (85 a). Yellowish grey or ash-colour; hindwing darker, with two rows of distinct, almost white, spots. Underside of hindwing with two small grey bands in the centre. — Southern Europe, North Africa, Syria, Armenia. [1]

Biology

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The butterfly gives one generation per year and flies from May to July depending on the location.[2]

The larvae feed on Stachys recta and Sideritis scordioides in Southern Europe.

This species was formerly a member of the genus Carcharodus. As a result of genomic research published in 2020, it was transferred to the genus Muschampia.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)
  2. ^ Marbled Skipper at Butterfly Conservation Armenia
  3. ^ Zhang, Jing; Brockmann, Ernst; Cong, Qian; Shen, Jinhui; et al. (2020). "A genomic perspective on the taxonomy of the subtribe Carcharodina (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Carcharodini)". Zootaxa. 4748 (1): zootaxa.4748.1.10. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4748.1.10. PMC 8018707. PMID 32230093.
 
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