Archiearis parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761)

Host plants:
The caterpillar lives on Betula (birch). In Lapland I recorded it also on Betula nana.

Habitat:
Archiearis parthenias inhabits forests that are rich in birch (moor forests, sandy woods, mixed forests, riparian forests, parks, mountain forests such as in Ticino). It is also found in bogs and tundra with Betula nana (Lapland).

Life cycle:
The moths fly from mid-February to April, in the Subarctic regions later. They fly around in the sunshine in the woods and like to rest on trails and other wet spots on the ground where they usually stand out only when they are disturbed and fly off. The caterpillars can be found in May and June.

Endangerment factors:
Archiearis parthenias is endangered in some places by the elimination of the birch due to intensive forestry and conversion in dark forests.

Remarks:
Archiearis parthenias occurs from central and northern Europe (in the south-west to the Pyrenees) to east Asia.