Wingspan: 29–35 mm
Flight period: in one generation from May to August
Larval host plants: species from the genus Buckthorn (Rhamnus)
The Thorn (Satyrium spini) is the largest among the butterflies of this genus. Nevertheless, it is a quite small and inconspicuously colored butterfly. The upperside of its wings is dark brown. The male has circular orange spots only on the hindwings near the tails. The female has more or less a pronounced orange spot also on the forewings, while the male in the middle of the forewings has only a small oval patch of scent scales. The grayish-brown underside of the wings is lighter than the upperside. From the front toward the rear edge of the wings runs a conspicuous, fairly straight white line, which is uninterrupted in the Thorn. In the outer lower corner of the hindwings, near the relatively long tails, there is a large light blue patch. Above it there are some crescent-shaped orange spots, which toward the leading edge of the wings become smaller.
The Thorn is the most common of the skippers that live here. It occurs on dry and hot grasslands and scrubby slopes from the sea to high mountains.
