Deltote bankiana (Fabricius, 1775)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on grasses. I tapped larvae from Calamagrostis epigejos and Deschampsia caespitosa.

Habitat:
Deltote bankiana inhabits extensive wetlands and fen edges. Additionally another focus is on wet to mesophilic clearcuts and forest fringes, so on the eastern Swabian Alb (danube affected areas in the southeast). Occasionally it is also found in drier habitats, such as many larvae on Calamagrostis in a seasonally humid forest edge in the transition zone to a dry sandy grassland (Hungary, Dabas, September 2019).

Life cycle:
Deltote bankiana usually has a single generation in June/July and only more rarely in lowlands also two generations from May to August. The moths can easily be flushed during the day when walking through the habitat. The caterpillars live especially from July to September.

Endangerment: regionally endangered or decreasing

Endangerment factors:
Even this quite adaptable wetland species is in decline due to the decrease in suitable habitat (drainage, overbuilding, intensification, overgrowth, dark forest management).

Remarks:
Deltote bankiana is widespread in Europe except in the Arctic and southern Mediterranean region and occurs also in temperate Asia to Japan.