Dicycla oo (Linnaeus, 1758)


Dicycla oo: Male (e.l. Northern Greece, June 2011) [S] Dicycla oo: Male (e.l. Northern Greece, June 2011) [S] Dicycla oo: Female (e.l. Northern Greece, June 2011) [S] Dicycla oo: Female (e.l. Northern Greece, June 2011) [S] Dicycla oo: Young larva (Northern Greece, Askio mountains, mid-May 2011) [S] Dicycla oo: Half-grown larva (Northern Greece, Askio mountains near Siatista, May 2011) [M] Dicycla oo: Larva in penultimate instar, Northern Greece, Askion, May 2011 [M] Dicycla oo: Larva, Northern Greece, Askio mountains, May 2011 [M] Dicycla oo: Larva, Northern Greece, Askion, May 2011 [M] Dicycla oo: Larva, Northern Greece, Askion, May 2011 [M] Dicycla oo: Larva, Northern Greece, Askion, May 2011 [S] Dicycla oo: Larva, Northern Greece, Askion, May 2011 [S] Dicycla oo: Larva, Northern Greece, Askion, May 2011 [S] Dicycla oo: Larval shelter (Askio mountains, May 2011) [N] Dicycla oo: Pupa [S] Dicycla oo: Pupa dorsal [S] Dicycla oo: Larval habitat in Northern Greece (Askio mountains near Siatista, May 2011) [N] Dicycla oo: Larval habitat in Northern Greece (Pindos NW Grevena, May 2011) [N]

Host plants:
The caterpillars live on deciduous oak species such as Quercus pubescens.

Habitat:
Dicycla oo inhabits sunny, bright, warm and usually rather dry oak stands. I found the caterpillar in Northern Greece in May 2011 between spun leaves of Quercus pubescens and other species of oak in xerothermic areas, e.g. adjacent to grasslands. Mostly young trees and lower branches of older trees in 0.5 to 2 meters were occupied by the larvae. Companion species were among others Dryobotodes eremita, Parocneria detrita, Eriogaster rimicola and Dicranura ulmi (the latter at Ulmus in the egg or L1 stage).

Life cycle:
The egg overwinters on twigs. The caterpillars live from April to early June between leaves that are spun together on mostly sunny shoots. The moths fly from mid-June to early August.

Endangerment: strongly endangered

Endangerment factors:
North of the Alps, Dicycla oo is threatened with extinction because of habitat loss (especially conversion of light, traditionally managed oak forests into higher yielding dark forests, forest edge straightening and compression). In southern Europe however, Dicycla oo belongs to the quite widespread species and is common for example in Northern Greece.

Remarks:
Dicycla oo occurs in Southern and Central Europe (sporadically north to south Sweden) as well as in Western Asia (e.g. Turkey, Iran).


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