Oxicesta geographica (Fabricius, 1787)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on Euphorbia species.

Habitat:
Oxicesta geographica inhabits both very dry steppes or sandy grasslands and wetlands with their specific Euphorbia species.

Life cycle:
The moths occur in often two generations (perhaps locally also three) from April to September. The larvae are found especially between mid-May and late June and again in September/October. In July and especially August there are obviously much less larvae. Oviposition takes place in a plaque-like batch on the leaves. The larve live gregariously in and on a webbing on the host plant up to the last instar where they scatter. The pupa (presumably already a portion of the early summer pupae) hibernate.

Remarks:
Oxicesta geographica occurs from E-Europe (from Hungary mainly across Romania and Ukraine, only locally in adjacent parts of Bulgaria) to Central Asia. From Austria in its present-day borders there are no reliable records.