Pyrgus malvoides

• Subfamily: Pyrginae
• Wingspan: 24-26 mm
• Flight period: Mar - Sep
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Agrimonia, Fragaria, Pontentilla sp.

Information

The Pyrgus malvoides is a small moth with its wingspan of 24-26 mm.
It is distributed in central southern Europe, in fact we can find it in Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Germany and of course Italy *. In Italy it is widespread everywhere, in the north-east it coexists in the Karst area with the almost identical-looking species Pyrgus malvae. It is absent from most of the islands, with the exception of Sicily **.

The wings of Pyrgus malvoides are dark brown in color; have numerous tiny white spots, of which a series, submarginal, on the upper side of the anterior wing, the discal spot is reduced or absent.

The sexual dimorphism is not very evident, in the females the characteristic pocket is missing, present in the males, along the costa of the anterior wing, formed by a fold of the wing membrane. The Pyrgus malvoides is a bivoltine species with flickers, in Italy, between the end of March and September. It overwinters at the pupa stage. It frequents grassy environments of various types. It is present from the basal to the alpine level. ***

The host plants are Rosaceae, Agrimonia, Fragaria, Potentilla sp, such as Potentilla erecta.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - European Fauna https://fauna-eu.org/
** http://www.iucn.it/
*** Paolucci Paolo, "The butterflies of northeastern Italy". Legnaro (PD), 2010. p.227