Theresimima ampellophaga (Bayle-Barelle, 1808)

Host plants:
Vitis vinifera and Parthenocissus sp.

Habitat:
Theresimima ampellophaga inhabits today mostly feral wine stocks, rambled walls and hedges and houses and gardens that are overgrown with Parthenocissus. From vineyards it has disappeared in most cases due to the use of poison.

Life cycle:
The caterpillar overwinters and is mature in May or June. I met many half-grown to mature caterpillars in Samos in early May 2009. The half-grown caterpillars web shelters between the sprouting leaves, in which they retire to rest. In May 2011, I observed larvae on the coast in Northern Greece near Mount Olympus. The moths fly in late May to July.

Endangerment factors:
In the past Theresimima ampellophaga occurred in the whole Mediterranean and became partly harmful in the vineyards. But Theresimima ampellophaga has become extinct in many regions as a result of the poison use in agriculture. Today it is found mainly on a few eastern Aegean islands and Turkey, as well as parts of the western Asia (again, with decrease trend). They deserve protection today. In Samos, I met Theresimima ampellophaga yet in several places, e.g. on Parthenocissus sp. in restaurants on the coast as well as in the mountains on feral wine.