Dryobotodes eremita (Fabricius, 1775)

Host plants:
The caterpillars live on deciduous oak species (Quercus robor, Q. petraea, Q. pubescens, etc.). I found the caterpillar in Venosta (South Tyrol) on Quercus pubescens.

Habitat:
Dryobotodes eremita inhabits mostly warm and dry oak forests, steppe slopes with individual oaks and other warm oak locations.

Life cycle:
The egg hibernates. The caterpillar lives from April to late May (rarely even early June) on oak. I found them in South Tyrol already half-grown on 18 April 2011 (hot spring). The moths fly in the autumn (late August to early November).

Endangerment: endangered

Endangerment factors:
Dryobotodes eremita is widespread in Southern Europe, but occurs only very rarely north of the Alps and is threatened there due to the disappearance of light, warm oak forests.

Remarks:
Dryobotodes eremita is distributed from Northwest Africa across Southern and Central Europe (north about to south Sweden) to Western Asia.