Host plants:
The larvae feed on flowers and fruits of Thymus.
Habitat:
Apaustis rupicola inhabits steppes and dry and warm nutrient-poor grasslands and pastures.
Life cycle:
The moths occur between May and June or July. In N-Greece, I recorded them not rarely but very locally on spots with much Thymus in a large grazed steppe area in early June 2021. The adults fly in the bright sunshine, but partly hide in very hot weather. The eggs are deposited on Thymus flowers on which the larvae feed between June and July or August. Obviously (rearing) the prepupa hibernates and pupation should occur in spring.
Remarks:
Apaustis rupicola occurs in SE-Europe (especially Greece and Bulgaria, but locally already from Hungary and Croatia east- and southeastwards), the Ukraine, S-Russia, the Caucasus region an in parts of southwest Asia.
Larval records are easy when collecting a sample flowering thyme from habitats and subsequent shaking within the next 10 days.