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Can anyone help please with the ID of this 'small' skipper taken this week at Durlston CP. Photo'd in the long grass in the Gully fields with both lulworth and small skippers present. Is there a fool-proof way of identifying these two based on underwing and antennae please?
Thx

I think that's a Lulworth skipper. I don't know if this is foolproof, but the uniform orange undersides, with little demarcation in colour at the apex of the forewing, as well as the slight whitish highlighting on the veins, point to this. Typically, small skippers have greenish-grey or greyish apices to the forewings, contrasting with a more orange discal region. The hindwings are the same colour as the apices. Essex skippers have less contrast but this is clearly not an Essex skipper. I'd call this Lulworth with a high degree of confidence.

Guy

I don't believe that there is any fool-proof way of separating these. I had a look at the species descriptions in Emmet & Heath vol.7, part 1 and saw the following potential discriminators:

Small:
"Head with scales of vertex mixed black and ochreous"
"Abdomen ventrally whitish ochreous."
"Hindwing [underside] greenish ochreous, more orange-ochreous in dorsal region; fine black termin­al line; cilia whitish ochreous.

Lulworth:
"Head with tufts dark golden ochreous"
"Abdomen with ventral surface pale buff"
"Hindwing with ground colour usually slightly paler and greyer; terminal line fuscous, narrow and obsolescent towards tornus"

My initial instinct was to go for Small. Also, the underside of the abdomen does look very white and there are black and golden hairs on the head. There is, however, no fine black terminal line, which points to Lulworth. The reliability of this last point seems dubious, however, as some of the Lulworth photos on the species pages of this website do show a pronounced black line. One of these photos is from Crete, so may show a regional difference.

I see that Padfield has gone for Lulworth and am sure he has much more experience than I have. It shows the difficulty of trying to interpret written descriptions

Mike

Guy

Thank you. I was hoping you would say Lulworth but didn't want to lead the (expert) witness!

Best wishes

M

Well, it looks as though you need a third opinion now!

It will surprise me very much if consensus settles on small for this butterfly - I had no real doubts either at first sight or on closer examination. Everything said Lulworth to me. But I am often surprised and no less often wrong, so I look forward to more views.

Guy

I see no one else has offered (dared to offer?) a third opinion. Although I have seen both species, I am sure that Padfield's experience counts for far more than mine I've seen far more 'Smalls' than 'Lulworths', so am naturally biased in that direction. The main aim of my post was to illustrate the difficulty of making a decision from written descriptions.

Mike

Mike

...and I would like to thank you (and Guy) for stepping forward - appreciated!

It was an interesting lesson on the day to suddenly discover small skippers in amongst the lulworth skippers (or perhaps the other way round) and thereafter forcing a very measured approach to every individual that wasn't either an obvious male LS or one flashing its sun rays. The popular guides don't address anything other than the obvious features given a classic viewing, but we all know that doesn't happen out in the field. I was just hoping that someone might have a secret nugget on underwing/antennae that might unlock those tricky side views!

M

Hi all,
Just caught up with this thread. I would identify this as Lulworth with 100% confidence, based precisely on the criteria listed by Guy. Some say that Small and Essex can be confidently separated based on whether the gradation from grey to orange, away from the forewing underside apical area, is abrupt or gradual. This generally works, but can be a little subjective. However, Lulworth (and this specimen) does not have the grey apical area. Certainly Lulworth.
BWs, Neil

Sussex Kipper wrote:I would identify this as Lulworth with 100% confidence

Splendid I, for one, will go to Durlston with much greater confidence in future. Must look through some of my old pics, too.

Mike