Epipsilia grisescens (Fabricius, 1794)

Host plants:
The larvae feeds on grasses (Poaceae). I found many larvae for example in the Valais on Festuca vallesiaca and other Festuca species.

Habitat:
Epipsilia grisescens inhabits rocky grasslands and stony pastures. I observed the greatest density of the caterpillars on an gappy embankment in a dry grassland at 1400m above sea level in Valais in mid-April 2009, where also caterpillars of Lasionycta proxima occurred. Epipsilia grisescens is found on both lime and silica, although in the latter areas often higher abundances are reached than in calcareous regions.

Life cycle:
The young caterpillar or the egg hibernates (according to literature). I found many larvae in April and May in several sites in the Valais and in the Bregenzer Wald (western Austrian Alps). They hide during the day at the base of the preferred grass clumps. The older caterpillars should also dig superficially. The moths fly from late June to August.

Remarks:
Epipsilia grisescens is restricted to the mountains of Europe and Scandinavia, and occurs for example in the Pyrenees, the Alps, in Italy, the Balkans, the Black Forest or very rare in the western Swabian Alb.