Host plants:
The larvae are polyphagous.
Habitat:
Arctia aulica requires very warm, nutrient-poor grasslands with many mosses, but sparse higher vegetation, such as rocky slopes and rare also sandy grasslands. These grasslands are often interspersed with dry scrubland. But Arctia aulica is missing today even in many potentially suitable sites, probably because of severe isolation of the small possible habitats makes survival more and more unlikely for such a species that is prone to extreme mass changing.
Life cycle:
The moths fly in May and well into June. The caterpillar overwinters already quite large and is conspicuous in autumn and especially in the early spring (March and early April), because it is crawling around in the open grasslands.
Endangerment: threatened with extinction
Endangerment factors:
Arctia aulica is threatened with extinction due to its very high requirements. The moth is sensitive to felting of vegetation. It needs moss-rich, low-growing habitats with partly bare ground that are also interspersed occasionally with low shrubs.
Remarks:
Arctia aulica occurs from central across Eastern Europe and Asia to the Amur region. South of the Alps Arctia aulica is replaced by the very similar Hyphoraia testudinaria.