Muschampia tessellum
Introduction '''''Muschampia tessellum''''', the '''tessellated skipper''', is a butterfly of the  family Hesperiidae. It is found from the southern Balkan Peninsula (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece and the European part of Turkey) through Ukraine, southern Russia (north to the Moscow region) and Asia Minor, southern Siberia, Mongolia, east to the Amur region.The length of the forewings is 13–16 mm, the wingspan is 32–36 mm. The upper wings are brown with numerous clear white spots on both fore- and hindwings. The underside of the wings are olive green with paler spots. Adults are on wing from the end of May to mid-August in Europe.
Description in Seitz ''H. tessellum'' Hbn. (85 e, f). Hindwing beneath grey-green or light olive, with three bands of light spots; the basal band, consisting of two spots, terminates in the cell: the median band very broad, reaching from veins 4 to 8; the white spot between veins 3 and 4 projects strongly from the band. Fore wing with four apical spots. From Russia throughout Anterior Asia to West China, Tibet and the Tian-shan. — The form ''nigricans'' form, nov., from Juldus, of which I have a female, has the upperside of the  wings black; the median band of the fore-wing consists of only two spots, the lunule at the apex of the cell is absent, so that the disc bears only three white dots and a diffuse smear in interspace 2.The dots  of the hindwing are reduced, obsolescent. The underside of both wings almost normal, but the centre of  the forewing is nearly black, the white spots of the hindwing on the contrary broader and all very sharply developed. — ''nomas'' Led.now subsp. ''Syrichtus tessellum'' ssp. ''nomas'' Lederer, 1855 (85 f) resembles name-typical specimens above; the underside of the hindwing,however, is uniformly white, without markings. South Russia, Asia Minor, Altai and West China. .
Biology In the Altai Mountains, adults are on wing from May to July.The larvae feed on ''Phlomis'' species, including ''Phlomis samia'' in Greece and ''Phlomis tuberosa'' in the southern Ural.
Subspecies *''Muschampia tessellum tessellum''*''Muschampia tessellum cribrelloides''Warren, 1926*''Muschampia tessellum nigricans'' Mabille, 1908*''Muschampia tessellum dilutior'' Rühl, 1895.
References
Sources *Whalley, Paul - ''Mitchell Beazley Guide to Butterflies'' (1981, reprinted 1992)
External links *  Captain's European Butterfly Guide*  Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa*  Schmetterlinge und ihre Ökologie*  Butterfly Conservation Armenia