Catocala puerpera (Giorna, 1791)

Host plants:
The caterpillar lives on willows (Salix) and poplars (Populus), especially on Salix purpurea and Populus nigra.

Habitat:
Catocala puerpera inhabits gravel plains in the rearrangement areas of rivers and streams, debris-rich soil or slopes withs open soil and other microclimatical favourable, but often air humid locations of willows and poplars.

Life cycle:
The egg hibernates. The young caterpillars hatch in April/May. I observed L1-larvae in late April 2013 on Populus nigra bushes on the foot of a dry steppe slope north of Sisteron. In mid-May 2010 and mid-May 2011, I found L1 and L2-larvae together with those of Catocala lupina on small Salix purpurea shrubs on gravel in Northern Greece (Pindos). The caterpillars are mature in June or July. I found still only half-grown larvae near Briançon in the French Alps on gravel of the Durance. The moths fly between July and October.

Endangerment factors:
Catocala puerpera is endangered by affections on the river dynamics (canalization) and thus reduction of the habitat. Additionally, destruction of dry habitats in the vicinity of the rivers decreases the reproduction facilities of Catocala puerpera..

Remarks:
Catocala puerpera occurs locally in south and south-Eastern Europe from southern Portugal across southern and central Spain, Southern France, Italy to the Balkan Peninsula, eastern Austria, Slovakia and the Ukraine. Beyond the moth is found in north Africa, Asia Minor and eastward to China.