Adscita statices (Linnaeus, 1758)

Host plants:
Rumex species such as R. acetosa and R. acetosella.

Habitat:
Adscita statices inhabits in particular humid meadows, for example in fens or in the margin areas of bogs, but also dry grasslands with the larval host plant and (formerly) also mesophilic, extensively mown meadows. But the latter have almost completely vanished today.

Life cycle:
Different flight times (late May to August) are probably best interpreted analogously to Zygaena filipendulae. In wetlands (late May to early July) the moths are flying earlier than in dry grasslands (July/August). The caterpillar overwinters as it is the case with all European Zygaenidae. In wet meadows it is mature often already in April. In southern Europe larvae aestivate and are active again in autumn before hibernation.

Endangerment factors:
In central Europe, Adscita statices has already lost the majority of the sites due to grassland intensification, afforestation and overbuilding. The moth is still regularly found in protected areas of wetlands.

Remarks:
Adscita statices is distributed from northern Spain (eastern Pyrenees) to western China. In Europe, it occurs widely, except for large parts of the Iberian Peninsula and the far north. Adscita statices also misses in most of Italy, where it is replaced by Adscita alpina/italica. In the southeast (e.g. Greece) occurs the taxon (subspecies) drenowskii (see photo series, more reddish larvae).