Hyponephele lycaon (Rottemburg, 1775)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on grasses with low production such as Festuca-species.

Habitat:
Hyponephele lycaon inhabits sandy grasslands, steppes, rocky slopes, sometimes sparsely wooded, steep mountain slopes with steppe-like clearings and similar very xerothermous places with open soils.

Life cycle:
The caterpillar hibernates immediately after hatching from the egg that is usually attached to dead grasses near the ground. In spring, you can find caterpillars during the day, as happened to me in early June 2006 in Valais at 2000m (penultimate instar), in Andalusia (Sierra Nevada) in 2500m in late June 2008 or near Aranjuez (S Madrid) in early May 2022 (final instar). The adult flies especially in July and August, sometimes still in September or in the lowland already from June.

Endangerment factors:
In Germany Hyponephele lycaon is threatened with extinction due to the disappearance of xerothermous extreme sites on sandy soils (abandonment of military training grounds, bush encroachment, fragmentation). Here it is still known for example in Brandenburg or the Baltic sea coast. South of the Alps, Hyponephele lycaon is endangerd by expansion of intense agriculture into formerly only extensively used areas (e.g. vineyards). But Hyponephele lycaon is there still better distributed, especially at higher altitudes (up to 2000m, in southern Spain up to 2600m).

Remarks:
Hyponephele lycaon occurs very locally from the Iberian Peninsula across southern France, the southern Alps, small parts of Italy to eastern Europe and Greece. In eastern Europe, it reaches southern Finland.
Further east, Hyponephele lycaon occurs from Turkey and Israel to Central Asia.

Hints on determination:
see H. lupinus