Pyrgus foulquieri

Foulquier's Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus foulquieri)

2024 photographs highlighted in yellow. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


37958_male_Alpes-Maritimes_27Jun15	44331_male_Var_16Jul17	44701_male_Alpes-Maritimes_20Jul17	46574_male_Alpes-Maritimes_16Jul19

46586_male_Alpes-Maritimes_16Jul19	46595_male_Alpes-Maritimes_16Jul19	47527_male_Alpes-Maritimes_19Jul20	53308_male_Var_1Sep24

46625_female_Alpes-Maritimes_16Jul19	44686_female_Alpes-Maritimes_19Jul17	44706_female_Alpes-Maritimes_20Jul17	46518_male_Var_13Jul19

46566_male_Alpes-Maritimes_16Jul19	44691_male_Alpes-Maritimes_19Jul17	44736_male_Alpes-Maritimes_20Jul17	37959_male_Alpes-Maritimes_27Jun15

This is a rather uncommon Pyrgus of south-eastern France, with isolated localities in Spain and Italy (where it occurs as the subspecies picenus). It is quite a large Pyrgus and the male upperside is well marked with strong white markings especially on the forewing, where the marks are usually jagged at the edges. The female is less strongly marked, I believe, although neither of the Lafranchis books has an illustration of the female. T&L does have an illustration of the female but this appears to only slightly less strongly marked than the male, whereas all of the photographs of female foulquieri (that can be trusted to be such) have much weaker markings that are slightly jagged. H&R does state that the female markings are smaller and that it has a yellowish reflection. 44706 answers some of those questions.

The key identifier for the male is that it has a tuft of white hairs at the end of the abdomen, extending to just below the lower part of the abdomen. This is quoted as the key differentiator of foulquieri from the subspecies of Large Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus alveus accretus) which it resembles in terms of markings, but whether it serves to differentiate foulquieri from other Pyrgus species is unclear.

The other key, as it seems to me, is that the unh discal s1 mark is particularly large, much more so than for other Pyrgus with which it could be confused; this, together with the large size, seems to be a key to confirming foulquieri. The unh ground colour is said to be yellow-brown although Matt Rowlings refers to a greenish underside.

I am fairly sure I had seen a male in 2003 and have a rather poor photograph but did not realise at the time that the end of the abdomen was the key. I waited rather a long time - until 2015 - for a second opportunity. It is a species that appears to emerge in mid-July and my travels to potential foulquieri sites had always been much earlier in the month, so in 2017 I arranged to visit these sites in mid-July and was not disappointed.

This species was originally known as Pyrgus foulquieri, changed to P. bellieri in 2010 and changed back again to P. foulquieri in 2017.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
37958	M	a male, which seems to tick all the boxes for foulquieri, especially the jagged upf white marks. I was granted a brief view at the same location where I had previously seen this species in 2003, and managed to get an upperside shot.	1000
44331	M	a male puddling, unusually, in very muddy water-hole, as puddling butterflies are usually very careful not to have anything attaching to their feet, presumably because it might make flight difficult or at least make it difficult to escape predators. It has a very strong upf basal yellowish sandy flush.	680
44701	M	*a male, missing a piece of hindwing but nonetheless showing the classic marks of male foulquieri. It also has a mild yellowish upf basal flush, although not to the same extent as 44331.*	1000
46574	M	a very pale brown colour by foulquieri standards, with the upf markings not particularly jagged. In addition, the uph discal mark is very weak by foulquieri standards, very much at the end of the range for this species.	1000
46586	M	*pale brown and similar to 46574 in this respect, but the upf markings are rather more jagged and the uph discal mark is contrasted to the degree that would be expected for foulquieri.*	1000
53308	M	a male, not dissimilar to 46586 but the markings are a little more contrasted. The upf markings are not jagged, as would be normal for foulquieri, but the size, very apparent in the field, and the uph markings leave little room for doubt.	680
46595	M	a more typically harder brown colour with typically jagged marks. The uph discal mark, however, is very poorly contrasted by foulquieri standards. All of these four males, this and the three above, were all photographed on the same day at the same location, indicating the degree of variation of this species.	1000
47527	M	a male, from a location I have visited many times without ever seeing *foulquieri, until this one in 2020. The boldness of the markings and its size leave no doubt that it is foulquieri.*	1400
46625	F	a female, with much weaker upf marks, although an element of jaggedness can be discerned. The uph discal mark is very weakly contrasted.	1000
44686	F	I believe this to be foulquieri based on the view of the underside that showed the large discal s1 mark, but from what can be seen of the upf markings, it would be very untypical for male foulquieri and I therefore conclude that it must be a female, even though I do not have a shot showing the end of the abdomen.	1000
44706	F	a definitive female foulquieri, showing, on the basis of this specimen, that the markings are considerably lighter than the male, and not in any way jagged. It also shows the rather sandy flush across the whole of the upperside.	1000
46518	M	an attempt to photograph the end of the abdominal hair tuft from the rear end.	1000
46566	M	an attempt to photograph the abdominal hair tuft from the side to show the degree to which the hair tuft extended underneath the abdomen. It was only partially successful in that the background was rather light, not always apparent when using a macro lens.	1000
44691	M	a male underside, clearly showing the extensive hair tuft at the end of the abdomen. The defining feature is the very large discal s1 mark, which appears to be constant for this species.	1000
44736	M	another male underside, also showing the hair tuft. The discal s1 mark is large, although not quite as large as in 44691, but still noticeably larger than other Pyrgus species. The shot was taken in shady conditions, so it appears darker than it actually was.	1000
37959	M	this is the underside of 37958. It was disturbed on the ground by another butterfly and flew off, settling briefly to allow an underside shot of sorts. It just about shows the extensive white hair tuft at the base of the end of the abdomen, the key identifying feature of foulquieri, although the upperside markings of fresh specimens are almost conclusive on their own. The underside shot also shows the exceptionally large (relative to other Pyrgus) mark in discal s1.	1000