Carcharodus alceae (Esper, 1780)  
Mallow Skipper, Malven-Dickkopffalter, Hesperie l'alcee, Толстоголовка альцея. 

Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: 
The species is distributed from Central and Southern Europe to Northern Africa and Central Asia. Host plants are various species of Malva, Alcea, Althea, Lavathera, Hibiscus, and Abutilon. The species is very adaptable and can live in different habitats, such as semi-deserts, steppes, deciduous forests, and even lower part of subalpine meadows, thus occupying the elevation range from 400 to 2500 m a.s.l.. Flight period in Armenia covers early March to mid October. Number of generations depends on the elevation and varies from one to three.

Population dynamics:
The species is rather common within typical habitat. The species is a generalist due to wide variety of the host plants that it uses. Since most of the host plants are not useful for the livestock, the species doesn't suffer from direct impact of overgrazing such as removal of the host plant. Theoretically, some threats can appear in the areas of intensive (non-selective) mowing or strong erosion; however at current we do not observe significant decline of the population. Indirectly it is proven by the fact of regular observation of the species in urbanized areas, with some cultivation of decorative flora, and also by presence of Malva species in the areas with obvious overgrazing.

Conservation measures: 
The species is not included in the Global, European, and Armenian Red Lists and in International Conventions. It appears that despite on low density the species is not seriously affected by anthropogenic pressure. It is widely presented in Protected Areas of Armenia and in Prime Butterfly Areas, as well as in number of non-protected pasture-lands. The species is included in Armenian BMS and continuation of its monitoring can show further tendencies of its population change.

Photo: A. Danchenko

Back to the species list