In this study, we introduce a prototype-based classifier with feature selection that dwells upon the usage of a biologically inspired optimization technique of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The design comprises two main phases. In the first phase, PSO selects P % of patterns to be treated as prototypes of c classes. During the second phase, the PSO is instrumental in the formation of a core set of features that constitute a collection of the most meaningful and highly discriminative coordinates of the original feature space. The proposed scheme of feature selection is developed in the wrapper mode with the performance evaluated with the aid of the nearest prototype classifier. The study offers a complete algorithmic framework and demonstrates the effectiveness (quality of solution) and efficiency (computing cost) of the approach when applied to a collection of selected data sets. We also include a comparative study which involves the usage of genetic algorithms (GAs). Numerical experiments show that a suitable selection of prototypes and a substantial reduction of the feature space could be accomplished and the classifier formed in this manner becomes characterized by low classification error. In addition, the advantage of the PSO is quantified in detail by running a number of experiments using Machine Learning datasets.