Code

Closed wings: The hindwing bears one shade of grey and it is very mottled, without a wavy line in the middle nor a series of dots. The forewing is orange, and its margins are similar colour as the hindwing with a small eyespot.

Open wings: This species hardly ever stretches the wings. Male butterflies are brown with two small eyespots on the forewing and a prominent andocronia. Female butterflies have larger eyespots and a wide orangey ring around each one of them.

Similar species

Meadow Brown: It is a little bigger, and less grey. It has the wavy line and a series of black spots along the hindwing outer margin.

Dusky Meadow Brown: The eyespot is larger. It has a wavy line in the middle, and different colour shades on the wings. The hindwing outer margin is mainly orange and there is a small spot at the anal angle, which is not always visible.

Biology and Habitat

This species flies at the end of June and July in the mountains which are between 1150 m and 1800 m high. It prefers sunny and dry pasture, or stony places with scattered thickets. Its caterpillars feed on grass plants that belong to, for example, Stipa and Aegilops genera.

Distribution in the Great Path

This is one of the rarest and the most limited species in Málaga. It has never been spotted along the GMP, but it may exist in high areas on stages 11 and 23. It is greatly important to send any information about spotting the species to the author of this guide.