Gatekeeper Butterfly
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 Gatekeeper (female)
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| Pyronia tithonus Linnaeus, 1758 |
The Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) sometimes called the Hedge Brown is a common butterfly in the United Kingdom. It is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae in the family Nymphalidae. A similar species is the Meadow Brown.
The name Gatekeeper may refer to its frequent occurrence near field gates and to the man who was responsible for the toll gates in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when butterflies were more numerous than they are today.
The larvae of Satyrinae all feed on grasses and are usually green or brown in colour. The pupae either hang upside down or lie in a flimsy chrysalis on grass. The adults are often found round blackberry plants. The adult butterflies have a quite short proboscis and the flowers of the blackberry being quite shallow provide an excellent nectar source. The characteristic eyespots ocelli on the forewing are supposed to lure attacking birds away from the head. The males often have a dark patch of scent scales in the middle of the forewing for courtship purposes. This dark patch is clearly visible in the male Gatekeeper.
Two similar species of Pyronia are found in southern Europe, the southern and the Spanish Gatekeeper, P. cecilia and P. bathsheba.
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