Spanish Gatekeeper
Pyronia bathseba
The double-pupilled eyespots on its wings act as a decoy, misleading hungry birds into striking harmless wing margins instead of its head.
- Scientific name
- Pyronia bathseba
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Nymphalidae › Pyronia
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Sunny Mediterranean garrigue, dry grassy slopes, scrublands, and open woodland edges.
- Diet
- Adults sip nectar from flowering brambles, thistles, and wild herbs; caterpillars feed on grasses such as Brachypodium.
- Range
- Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Morocco, Algeria
- Size
- 36-42 mm wingspan
- Lifespan
- 2 to 4 weeks as an adult
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss from intensive agriculture, urbanization, and severe wildfire frequency.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. Safe to approach quietly for close observation. Does not bite, sting, or possess toxic allergens. Avoid touching to prevent damaging delicate wing scales.
Pyronia bathseba , the Spanish gatekeeper , is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found on the Iberian Peninsula and in France, Morocco, and Algeria. A similar gatekeeper species is Pyronia tithonus , which is found in northern Europe.
Photo: gailhampshire, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/ebc65374-916f-4742-8df5-39df68c6fd53.md