Xestia ashworthii (Doubleday, 1855)

Host plants:
The caterpillars live polyphagous in the herb layer of gappy and often rocky grasslands.

Habitat:
Xestia ashworthii inhabits rocky, stony or at least gappy vegetated grasslands, embankments, quarries and hillsides. The moth is a typical inhabitant of the mountains (in Central Europe from about 500m above sea level up to over 2000m).

Life cycle:
The caterpillar overwinters half-grown and is mature in April or May. I found caterpillars during the day resting in tussocks. After hibernation the caterpillar is purely nocturnal like many Noctuidae. The moths fly depending on the altitude from June to early September in a single generation.

Endangerment: regionally endangered or decreasing

Endangerment factors:
Xestia ashworthii is endangered at lower altitudes due to the loss of their habitats for example by overgrowth (succession) or so-called regreening of quarries.

Remarks:
Xestia ashworthii occurs from Europe far into Asia (China) and is found in southern and central areas of Europe only in the mountains as the Swabian Alb (obviously missing here in the east) or in the Alps. For example in Southern Scandinavia the moth occurs also on rocky shores.