| Family | Hesperiidae |
|---|---|
| Subfamily | Hesperiinae |
| Genus | Thymelicus |
| Species | sylvestris |
| Authority | (Poda, 1761) |
| English Name | Small Skipper |
| European Red List 2010 | Least Concern (LC) |
|---|---|
| EU 27 Red List 2010 | Least Concern (LC) |
| European Red List 2025 | Vulnerable (VU) |
| EU 27 Red List 2025 | Vulnerable (VU) |
| Habitats Directive | |
| Bern Convention | |
| CITES |
The Small Skipper occurs in all sorts of flower-rich places with tall grass, such as grasslands, road verges and edges of streams. The butterflies are fond of visiting thistles, knapweeds and other purple or pink flowers for their nectar. The female deposits her eggs in batches of three to twenty in the leaf-sheaths of coarse-leaved grasses. Unlike the Essex Skipper, she only uses young, green leaves. After about three weeks, the eggs hatch and the small caterpillars begin spinning a shelter straightaway in which to hibernate. Only the next spring do they begin to feed and grow. At first, they only feed during the day and later also at night. They pupate in a web of loosely spun white threads. The Small Skipper is single-brooded, but the butterflies emerge over a long period.
Albania / Andorra / Austria / Belarus / Belgium / Belgium: Flanders / Belgium: Wallonia / Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bulgaria / Croatia / Czechia / Denmark / Estonia / Finland (Irregular Vagrant) / France / France: Mainland / Germany / Greece / Greece: Mainland / Greece: East Aegean Islands / Greece: Kirti (Crete) / Hungary / Ireland / Italy / Italy: Mainland / Italy: Sicily / Latvia / Liechtenstein / Lithuania / Luxembourg / North Macedonia / Moldova / Montenegro / Netherlands / Poland / Portugal / Portugal: Mainland / Romania / European Russia / San Marino / Serbia / Serbia: Serbia / Serbia: Kosovo / Slovakia / Slovenia / Spain / Spain: Mainland / Spain: Sp. North African Territories / Switzerland / European Türkiye / Ukraine / United Kingdom / United Kingdom: Great Britain /