Satyrium acaciae (Fabricius, 1787)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on Prunus spinosa and especially in the south also other Prunus species. So I found many larvae in northern Greece on small to tall bushes of Prunus webbii.

Habitat:
Satyrium acaciae colonizes bushy limestone grasslands and pastures, rocky slopes, old small-scale quarries and similar xerothermic habitats. It is also found in warm woodland margins and very open woodland (e.g. coppice woodland). Due to global warming Satyrium acaciae is more and more able to settle Prunus hedges withoud very low-growing or crippled character north of the Alps, too.

Life cycle:
The eggs overwinter (or better the caterpillar within the egg shell). The caterpillar is mostly mature in mid- or late May, in the south often already in late April. In central Europe, it often lives on small, low bushes, which are fully exposed to the sun (like directly on gravel). But sometimes oviposition takes also place on a bit higher Prunus plants as is indicated by own caterpillar observations together with Satyrium pruni in more than 1-1.5m above ground in the Swabian Alb (Germany). In March 2009, I found there an egg in 2 metres above ground. The imagines fly in June and July and like to feed on yellow and white Asteraceae such as Senecio jacobeae, but also on thyme.

Endangerment factors:
Satyrium acaciae is endangered by reforestation after abandonment (succession), eutrophication, intensification and improper maintenance measures (radical removal of small bushes in the entire habitat at the same time). Satyrium acaciae benefits from global warming and becomes a bit more common in central Europe nowadays.

Remarks:
The eggs are not easy to find on the knotty, often lichen-rich sloes due to their color and the fact that they are partially covered with hair.

The distribution ranges from parts of especially northern Spain through central, southern and southeastern Europe across Asia Minor, and thence far to southern Russia. In central Europe Satyrium acaciae is found to the north approximately to the northern edge of the central German low mountains and central Poland.