Lulworth skipper S. A. von Rottemburg in 1775. The butterfly was first discovered in Britain on 15 August 1832, when specimens were taken from Lulworth Cove in Dorset by English naturalist James Charles Dale It was introduced the following year as the Lulworth skipper ("Thymelicus acteon"), a name that has remained unchanged; it is the only one of Britain's vernacular butterfly names for which there has never been a proposed substitute. The male Lulworth skipper has a wingspan of , and the female 25 to 28 mm. This makes it one of Britain's smallest butterflies and, in Europe, the smallest member of
Lulworth Cove erosion from the sea. Management has been put in place to stop the coastline from being ruined, such as wooden steps and fences. These will keep people to a certain path and steps will reinforce the ground. In 2001, the coast was granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO. Experts at UNESCO have been working on preserving the shape of Lulworth Cove. Lulworth was one of a number of gateway villages on the coast with a Heritage Centre—part visitor centre, tourist information and natural history museum—which in 2002 received 418,595 visitors. Most of the area is privately owned by the