Scientific Name: Coenonympha arcania.
English Name: Pearly Heath.
French Name: Le Céphale.
5 Key Characters:
Habitat: Woodland fringes, hedges, wooded grassland and open woodland. Prefers scrubby dry grassland on calcareous soil. It seems to need a certain level of woody plant growth.
Flight Period: April-May-June-July.
Caterpillar: small and green with pale stripes down the side, July to May, overwintering as a caterpillar.
Host Plant: Grasses (Hairy Melick Melica ciliata, Wood Melick M. uniflora, Tor Grass Brachypodium pinnatum, Red Fescue Festuca rubra).
Status: Common but localised ie only occurs on certain sites. This is a conspicuous and easy to see butterfly on certain sites in the Touraine Loire Valley and Brenne.
References and Further Reading:
Les Papillons de jour de France, Belgique et Luxembourg et leurs chenilles by Tristan Lafranchis, one of the Parthenope Collection, published by Biotope.
Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
Photographs are numbered from left to right and top to bottom. All photos will enlarge in a new window if you click on them. 1 - 3 at la Croix-Sourd (dry flower rich scrubby grassland on a limestone spur), May.
English Name: Pearly Heath.
French Name: Le Céphale.
5 Key Characters:- a series of eyespots on the underside of the hindwing with white centres, then black bands surrounding a yellowy orange band.
- medium sized (forewings 17 - 20 mm long).
- underside of the hindwing has a broad irregular white band.
- base colour of the underside is red brown.
- upperside is brown, with a large area of tawny orange (fauve) from the base of the forewing.
Habitat: Woodland fringes, hedges, wooded grassland and open woodland. Prefers scrubby dry grassland on calcareous soil. It seems to need a certain level of woody plant growth.
Flight Period: April-May-June-July.
Caterpillar: small and green with pale stripes down the side, July to May, overwintering as a caterpillar.
Host Plant: Grasses (Hairy Melick Melica ciliata, Wood Melick M. uniflora, Tor Grass Brachypodium pinnatum, Red Fescue Festuca rubra).
Status: Common but localised ie only occurs on certain sites. This is a conspicuous and easy to see butterfly on certain sites in the Touraine Loire Valley and Brenne.
References and Further Reading:
Les Papillons de jour de France, Belgique et Luxembourg et leurs chenilles by Tristan Lafranchis, one of the Parthenope Collection, published by Biotope.
Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
Photographs are numbered from left to right and top to bottom. All photos will enlarge in a new window if you click on them. 1 - 3 at la Croix-Sourd (dry flower rich scrubby grassland on a limestone spur), May.
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| Resting on Common Juniper Juniperus communis, a common plant on the sites the Pearly Heath frequents. |
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