Zethes insularis Rambur, 1833


Zethes insularis: Adult (Samos, early May 2009) [N] Zethes insularis: Adult (e.l. Olympus 2012) [S] Zethes insularis: Adult (e.l. Olympus 2012) [S] Zethes insularis: Adult lower side (e.l. Olympus 2012) [S] Zethes insularis: Larva after the last moult (Olympus, late July 2012) [M] Zethes insularis: Larva (Olympus 2012) [M] Zethes insularis: Larva (Olympus 2012) [M] Zethes insularis: Larva (Olympus 2012) [M] Zethes insularis: Larva, head (Olympus 2012) [S] Zethes insularis: Pupa [S] Zethes insularis: Habitat at the foot of Mount Olymps, early August 2012. [N]

Host plants:
I found caterpillars on Pistacia terebinthus. Probably also other Anacardiaceae and possibly other plants are accepted.

Habitat:
Zethes insularis inhabits dry warm habitats. In Samos, I found a moth in early May 2009 in a light forest which was interspersed with dry grasslands at about 150m above sea level with Quercus coccifera in the understory. I observed larvae at the southeastern foot of Mount Olympus (Northern Greece) on Pistacia in a sunny, light and grassy hillside with Pistacia and Paliurus spina-christi (Rhamnaceae) in late July 2012.

Life cycle:
The adults fly according to literature from March to September and form two or three generations.

Remarks:
The distribution extends from north Africa across Southern Europe (southern Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, Corsica, Southern Italy with Sicily, Croatia, the southern Balkans, with the whole of Greece) to Asia Minor and Iran.


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