Lymantria monacha (Linnaeus, 1758)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on coniferous and also deciduous trees. In the northern foreland of the Alps they mostly live on spruce (Picea abies), but also beech and other trees. Near Lake Maggiore (Ticino) I found caterpillars in chestnut groves and also in Ticino on birch.

Habitat:
Lymantria monacha inhabits forests of all kinds and is in comparison to Lymatria dispar less climate-dependent and also found in the Alps.

Life cycle:
The egg overwinters. The moths fly in July/August.

Endangerment factors:
Lymantria monacha is not endangered. Mostly the moths even apear quite numerous, because it is able to use the modern spruce forests that are degraded to mere timber fields. Outbreaks are fairly rare, and control measures such as spraying of Dimilin thus superfluous.

Remarks:
Lymantria monacha occurs in a vast range from Northern Spain to Japan.