Drymonia velitaris (Hufnagel, 1766)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on oaks, especially Quercus robur, Q. petraea and Q. pubescens.

Habitat:
Drymonia velitaris inhabits warm, sunny and oak-rich sites such as sandy heathlands with young oaks, open pine woodland with shrubby oaks, coppice woodland and similar places.

Life cycle:
The pupa hibernates. The moths usually occur in early summer (late May to July) and the larvae are mainly found between late June and early September. In more southerly regions or in warm years a partial second generation may occur between late July and September.
The larvae usually live on low oak scrub or the lower branches of older trees. They cause characteristic feeding scars with remaining middle ribs of the leaves. The older larvae ususally rest with the lighter ventral side to the top under these middle ribs/leaves and are thus well camouflaged.

Endangerment factors:
Drymonia velitaris is rare and endangered in Central Europe. Main reason is the very counterproductive (in respect of species protection in general) dark forest management due to the abandonment of traditional forest management forms such as coppice, clearcuttings or grazing in woodlands, with the result of permanent dark forest.