Thymelicus christi Rebel, 1894

Host plants:
The caterpillar lives on grasses. I found it in the end of March 2006 and in February 2013 relatively numerous on Brachypodium arbusculum in Valle Hermoso in La Gomera.

Habitat:
Thymelicus christi colonizes sunny, fairly dry and bushy, often rocky slopes and ravines (barrancos) with the larval host plant.

Life cycle:
As with Thymelicus acteon, the hatched larva is likely resting in a cocoon from summer/late summer to winter. The caterpillars live in the late winter and spring. I found them in all instars in about 750m above sea level in late March 2006 and at about 60m asl in February 2013 in Valle Hermosa in La Gomera. The adults fly from March (lower elevations) to June (only occasionally even later until August/September).

Endangerment: endangered

Endangerment factors:
Thymelicus christi is endangered. Causes are overbuilding/tourism, forest and brush fires, and especially the often observed overgrazing by sheep and goats. Thus the habitat, were I found the larvae in 2006, appeared overgrazed and trampled by goats in December 2011.

Remarks:
Thymelicus christi is endemic to the Canary Islands and most common here in the north of the western isles from Gran Canaria.

The taxon is closely related to Thymelicus acteon and could easily still be treated as its subspecies.