Euphydryas italica Back, Hausmann, Salk & Weiss, 2015

Host plants:
The eggs are deposited on Fraxinus. After hibernation the larvae also feed in the herb layer, especially on Plantago and Veronica, presumably also on other species like Valeriana or Lonicera as it is the case with maturna.

Habitat:
Euphydryas italica inhabits open woodland that is interspersed with pastures and is rich in Fraxinus in about 1000m.

Life cycle:
The development is similar to E. maturna. The young larvae live gregariously in a webbing on ash, hibernate in the litter and live more singly afterwards in the herb layer. Supposedly, they also climb young ashs or bushes.

Endangerment factors:
Supposedly endangered by both intensification of grazing and abandonment with subsequent overgrowth.

Remarks:
The taxon is endemic to the Cottian Alps near Cuneo (Italy) The ecology is very similar to E. maturna. Despite the genetical distance (which - judged isolatedly - is closer to E. iduna than E. maturna) I think Euphydryas italica is closest to E. maturna. Small differences also exist in the larvae which are darker and develop later and smaller yellow spots.
But it is nevertheless a highly interesting population with presumably long isolation.