A thick-headed alcea , or a thick-headed Alcea [3] , or a thick-headed Alcea [4] ( lat. Carcharodus alceae ) is a species of day butterflies from the family of thick-headed ( Hesperiidae ). The scientific species name of this butterfly (“ alceae ”) is the generic name of the Shtokroza ( Alcea ) in the genitive case [1] [2] . The plant, in turn, is named after the ancient Greek poet Alcea ( Alkey ) [5] .
| Fathead Alcea |
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| {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{| 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1 }} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 1}} | 4}} : | Bilateral symmetrical |
| Subtype : | Tracheo-breathing |
| Infraclass : | Winged insects |
| Treasure : | Fully Transformed Insects |
| Squadron : | Amphiesmenoptera |
| Infrastructure : | Butterflies |
| Treasure : | Double-breasted |
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Carcharodus alceae ( Esper , 1780 ) |
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- Papilio alceae Esper, 1780 [1]
- Spilothyrus malvarum Becker, 1869 [2]
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- Carcharodus alceae alceae (Esper, 1780)
- Carcharodus alceae wissmanni Warnecke, 1934
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The species is common in southern and central Europe , North Africa (from Morocco east to Tunisia and Libya ), the Middle East , Asia Minor , the Caucasus , Transcaucasia , Central and Central Asia , the Western Himalayas and the south of Western Siberia [1] [2] . There are isolated populations of alcea thick-headed on the Sinai Peninsula and in Yemen ( C. a. Wissmanni ) [1] .
The length of the front wing is 12–16 mm [5] . The fore wings are brown above, with an unclear pattern and six to seven small transparent patches; males have front wings from below without a fluffy androconial field [5] .
You can meet these butterflies on water meadows , mountain slopes with areas of steppe vegetation and bushes , on the fringes of forests [2] and in gardens where mallow grows [6] .
Caterpillar fodder plants are mallow ( Malva ) ( Malva alcea , musk mallow , Malva neglecta , forest mallow , Malvella sherardiana ), stockrose ( Alcea ) ( pink stockroza , stocky bristose ), althea ( Althea ), hame ( Lavatera ) ( Lavatera ) ( Lavatera ) ( Lavatera ) , hibiscus ( Hibiscus ), cable car ( Abutilon ) [1] [2] [7] [8] . Butterflies feed on plant flowers , such as clover ( Trifolium ) [9] .
During the mating season, the male tries to settle down under the female . Females can lay eggs on top and on the back of a leaf of plants from the family of Malvaceae ( Malvaceae ), on which caterpillars hatched from eggs will feed. One egg [1] [2] is laid on a leaf.
The development of caterpillars proceeds in shelters, which they fold from a leaf, fastening them with silk. After each molt, the shelter is built anew. Caterpillars spend the winter in the same shelters folded from leaves [2] .
