Black hairstreak

Black hairstreak
Female laying egg, Oxfordshire, 2015
Museum specimen of unknown age
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Satyrium
Species: S. pruni
Binomial name
Satyrium pruni
Synonyms

Fixsenia pruni
Strymonidia pruni
Nordmannia pruni

The black hairstreak (Satyrium pruni) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.

Distribution

The butterfly is native to Europe,[1] from Scandinavia to Ukraine, and is found as far east as Mongolia, Korea and Japan. It is considered by IUCN to be stable and of least concern.[2]

Great Britain

It is rare in Great Britain and restricted to a number of sites in the south and east Midlands, between Oxford and Peterborough. The largest breeding colony is in Ham Home-cum-Hamgreen Woods in Buckinghamshire.[3] Historically there have been around 90 known colonies since its discovery in 1828 but there have been many, mostly unsuccessful, introductions at various locations in southern England including one in Surrey in 1952 that seemed to be successful until the habitat was destroyed. It is now one of the rarest butterflies in Great Britain.[4]

In June 2018, it was announced that a large population had been discovered in East Sussex,[5] and it was observed in Oxfordshire at a site where it had not been seen since 1988.[6]

Continental Europe

It is found in most countries of continental Europe, except Mediterranean coastal regions. While widespread, the species is local and habitat-dependent. It is declining in the east of the region.[2]

Scandinavia

The black hairstreak is found in the south of Finland and Sweden, and extinct in Denmark.[2]

Appearance, behaviour

Note that information on this species applies to Great Britain and some details may not be consistent with the species in other parts of its range.

Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5

This small brown butterfly is very similar to the white-letter hairstreak but the black hairstreak has a row of orange spots along the edge of the upper-side hindwing. In the female these spots also extend to the forewings. The undersides are similar to the white-letter but the white line tends to be straighter and the orange border extends onto the forewings. The most conclusive way to distinguish the two is by the row of black spots accompanying the orange band which the white-letter hairstreak never has. They spend most of their lives in the canopy or in dense scrub, feeding on honeydew, and very rarely come down to ground level.

Life cycle and foodplants

Eggs are laid singly on young blackthorn Prunus spinosa growth and it is this stage which hibernates. Although blackthorn is the main foodplant, wild plum Prunus domestica and other Prunus spp are occasionally used. The caterpillar hatches the following spring, at the end of April, just before the buds open and feeds on the flower buds. Older larvae are green and well camouflaged against the leaves on which they feed. Pupation takes place on leaves or twigs in June and the pupae are patterned black and white to mimic a bird dropping, as a defence against being eaten. The adult butterflies of this single-brood (univoltic) species are on the wing from the end of June to mid July.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "euroButterflies". Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 van Swaay, C., Wynhoff, I., Verovnik, R., Wiemers, M., López Munguira, M., Maes, D., Sasic, M., Verstrael, T., Warren, M. & Settele, J. (2010). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T174411A7067314. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "Ham Home-cum-Hamgreen Woods citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "UK Butterflies: Black Hairstreak". Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  5. ↑ "Butterfly Conservation: Black Hairstreak discovered in Sussex". Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  6. ↑ "Rare butterfly makes a comeback after 30 years". BBC News. 18 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
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