''Muschampia lavatherae'', the marbled skipper, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

of the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

. It is found from the

Rhine Rift Valley The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben (German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the so ...

in central

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

up to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

and from south-eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

up to

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is 28–34 mm. The butterfly gives one generation per year and flies from May to July depending on the location.Marbled Skipper at Butterfly Conservation Armenia
/ref> The larvae feed on ''

Stachys recta ''Stachys recta'', commonly known as stiff hedgenettle or perennial yellow-woundwort, is herbaceous perennial plant of the family Lamiaceae. Etymology The generic epithet is derived from the Greek word σταχυς (''stachys''), meaning "an ear ...

'' and ''

Sideritis scordioides ''Sideritis'', also known as ironwort, mountain tea, and shepherd's tea, is a genus of flowering plants known for their use as herbal medicine, commonly as an herbal tea. They are abundant in Mediterranean regions, the Balkans, the Iberian Penin ...

'' in Southern Europe. This species was formerly a member of the genus ''

Carcharodus ''Carcharodus'' is a Palearctic genus of skippers in the family Hesperiidae. In genomic research published in 2020, it was determined that six of the eight species in ''Carcharodus'' were more closely related to those in the genus ''Muschampia' ...

''. As a result of genomic research published in 2020, it was transferred to the genus ''

Muschampia ''Muschampia'' is a Palearctic genus of spread-winged skippers in the family Hesperiidae. Species These species belong to the genus ''Muschampia'': * ''Muschampia alta'' (Schwingenschuss, 1942) Southern Italy, Balkan Peninsula * ''Muschampia ...

''.

References

External links

Butterflies of Europe

Butterfly Conservation Armenia
Carcharodus Butterflies described in 1783 Butterflies of Europe {{Pyrginae-stub