Jordanita budensis (Speyer & Speyer, 1858)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on Centaurea species (C. paniculata, C. triumfettii, C. ornata etc.), Achillea setacea (Crimea) and also Cirsium species.

Habitat:
Jordanita budensis inhabits steppe-like habitats, pastures and open woodlans with clearings from the lowlands upt to more than 2400m (SW-Alps, Balkans, Anatolia). In central Spain Jordanita budensis is scarce and hast been pushed back by dense pine afforestations. The shown female from Moscardon has been geitalized by Prof. Tarmann (Innsbruck).

Life cycle:
The moths occur early (usually several weeks prior to other related species) and appear in the lowlands already from late March or April, in the mountains more in May and June and in the highest altitudes in July. I recorded many moths in the Chelmos mountains (N-Peloponnese) in 1500-1600m in late May 2017.

Remarks:
Jordanita budensis occurs disjunct in S-Europe (e.g. Central Spain, S-.France, Italy, Balkans) and E-Europe (E-Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, S-Russia) and further east to E-Asia (Amur, Mongolia).

Hints on determination:
Besides genitalmorphological differences the males have shorter antennae than related species.