Cucullia fraudatrix Eversmann, 1837

Host plants:
The larvae usually feed on Artemisia vulgaris, occasionally also on other Artemisia species.

Habitat:
The eastern steppe species inhabits open landscapes like fallow land, edges in arable land, ruderal areas, sandy places, disturbed areas in wetlands and other places, often near settlements.

Life cycle:
The moths occur in summer usually between July and mid-August, only rarely later until late August and still rarer earlier in late June. The larvae live in August and September. They are most often recorded between 20. August and 20. September. They must indeed occur also in early August or even late July (in younger instars). I recorded larvae in the penultimate and last instar near Berlin on 9. September 2023. At least in this year some of the larvae must have fed until late September. The young larvae (L1) feed also on leaves (rearing observation), but generally prefer the flower and fruit stands. Older larvae may be greenish or greyish. Mature larvae often hide a little bit deeper in the bush, e.g. on stems, during daytime. They are even said to hide partly on the ground. Best detection method is beating the plants with stick and umbrella. Excercised eyes will spot the larva also by mere visual survey of the plants. But they are not so easily recorded as it is the case with its almost always syntopic congener Cucullia absinthii. C. artemisiae is also often found in the same places and at the same time. Pupation occurs in a cocoon on the ground.

Remarks:
Cucullia fraudatrix occurs from central Europe across the Asian steppe belt to Korea and Japan. Only from about 1945 Cucullia fraudatrix is regularly found west of the river Oder and has spread across northern Germany to the eastern Netherlands. It is now also known from Denmark, S-Sweden and S-Finland.
But it seems that Cucullia fraudatrix is nowadays already becoming scarcer again in these newly settled regions. So it has been recorded in larger numbers in parts of Lower Saxony and Hamburg around 1950-2000, but nowadays in only few specimens in most regions. There is the possibility of normal fluctuations, but it is a fact that habitats get scarce in many regions. Former edges in arable land have been included in the highly intense effective agricultural area, are affected by biocides or are overgrown with shrub. Fallow land near settlements suffers from fast overbuilding. Fallow agricultural land would have to exist for several years to support a local population. Where there is a somewhat larger proportion of habitat in the landscape (e.g. in parts of Brandenburg, E-Germany) Cucullia fraudatrix is still recorded quite regulary.