Chelis maculosa (Gerning, 1780)

Host plants:
The species is in principle polyphagous, but prefers Galium species.

Habitat:
Chelis maculosa inhabits grasslands on sand and limestone in summer dry regions. In Germany Chelis maculosa is nowadays almost exclusively distributed in the low Kyffhäuser mountains in Thuringia. South of the Alps, however, Chelis maculosa is more common and widely distributed. So I found caterpillars in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in approximately 1500m above sea level in May on large and very low growing pastures which were interspersed with brooms.

Life cycle:
The caterpillar overwinters and is mature in May/early June. The moths fly from June to July, mostly in early to mid-July.

Endangerment: threatened with extinction

Endangerment factors:
The future survival of Chelis maculosa in Germany depends on the protection of the Kyffhäuser mountains. Outside this steppe outpost exist only very few remaining populations.

In Southern Europe many habitats are also vanishing due to diverse intensivication measurements (agriculture, industry, energy, housing etc.).

Remarks:
Chelis maculosa occurs from Spain across central and especially Southern Europe to East Asia.