Erebia mnestra (Hübner, 1804)

Host plants:
Grasses, especially Festuca species (Festuca ovina agg.)

Habitat:
Erebia mnestra inhabits dry slopes with Festuca stocks from 1500 to 2500m above sea level.

Life cycle:
Apparently the caterpillar overwinters twice (once in the first or second and once in penultimate instar, Sonderegger 2005). I found larvae in penultimate, still brown instar on a south facing slope in northern Ticino in 2300m above sea level in the first half of May 2007. The adults fly from late June into August.

Endangerment factors:
Erebia mnestra is only locally threatened by the usual factor habitat destruction for agricultural or tourism profit maximization, more rarely also reforestation and abandonment in lower sites.

Remarks:
Erebia mnestra occurs in the Alps, especially in the central and southern part. It is missing in the north, e.g. in the German Alps.