The Mallow Skipper is a butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Southern and Central Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, northern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, and in Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

. The butterfly prefers warm and stony areas to settle on. It gets its nectar from herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 plants.
Mallow Skippers lay their eggs on different species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of Mallow

Malva

Malva is a genus of about 25–30 species of herbaceous annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae , one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of...

. The butterfly flies from April to October depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Malva sylvestris

Malva sylvestris

Malva sylvestris is a species of the Mallow genus Malva in the family of Malvaceae and is considered to be the type species for the genus...

and Althaea officinalis

Althaea officinalis

Althaea officinalis is a species indigenous to Africa, which is used as a medicinal plant and ornamental plant...

.