Boloria graeca (Staudinger, 1870)

Host plants:
The caterpillar lives on Viola species, especially those from the group of pansies. In the Maritime Alps (Isola 2000), I observed oviposition in 2300m above sea level at Viola calcarata cavillieri (a yellow variant of Viola calcarata) in July 2011.

Habitat:
Boloria graeca inhabits subalpine meadows and rocky slopes with meadow-like parts and at least seasonally humid areas. In Northern Greece I watched Boloria graeca together with Erebia euryale in slightly north facing, grassy hillside in 2100m above sea level (Phalakron, late July 2011).

Life cycle:
The caterpillar overwinters half-grown and is mature depending on the altitude probably in May or June. The butterflies appear from June to August with a strong peak in July. They enjoy sunbathing on rocks or feed on flowers (e.g. Scabiosa species).

Endangerment factors:
Boloria graeca is locally endangerd by global warming (at lower altitudes) and always new ski runs.

Remarks:
Boloria graeca occurs in Europe especially on the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula (such as Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and northern and Central Greece) from about 800 to 2500 meters above sea level (peak above 1800m above sea level). In addition, Boloria graeca is found in Western Asia (e.g. Asia Minor). An isolated, small sub-area is also located in the French Southwestern Alps (here apparently quite local and especially on silicate) and extremely rare and locally also marginal in neighbouring Italy (Cuneo).