Host plants:
The caterpillars live on Pyrus trees (usually Pyrus communis, garden-pear).
Habitat:
Atethmia ambusta inhabits unsprayed pear trees in warm areas such as alleys, orchards etc.
Life cycle:
The egg overwinters. The caterpillar lives from March to May with peak in late April. During the day, older specimens are hiding in bark crevices or (mostly) under loose bark and occasionally in dry leaves at the base of the stems. The moths fly in August and September.
Endangerment: endangered
Endangerment factors:
Since old, unsprayed fruit tree stocks decrease due to overbuilding, too high human population density and conversion, Atethmia ambusta is particularly vulnerable in its preferred habitats (such as the Upper Rhine Valley). On the other hand often a few neighboring trees suffice to survive.
Remarks:
Atethmia ambusta occurs in Europe only very locally and is found from the Pyrenees across Central Europe (missing in northern Germany and Scandinavia) and parts of Southern Europe to Western Asia.