Gnophos furvatus ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)


Gnophos furvatus: Adult (eastern Swabian Alb) [N] Gnophos furvatus: Adult (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Gnophos furvatus: Half-grown larva (eastern Swabian Alb) [M] Gnophos furvatus: Half-grown larva (eastern Swabian Alb) [M] Gnophos furvatus: Half-grown larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, April 2010) [S] Gnophos furvatus: Half-grown larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, April 2010) [S] Gnophos furvatus: Larva [S] Gnophos furvatus: Larva [S] Gnophos furvatus: Larva [S] Gnophos furvatus: Larva [S] Gnophos furvatus: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany) [M] Gnophos furvatus: Pupa (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany) [S] Gnophos furvatus: Pupa [S] Gnophos furvatus: Habitat: steppe-like limestone slope on the eastern Swabian Alb [N]

Host plants:
The caterpillar lives polyphagous on herbs (e.g. Teucrium montanum, Sanguisorba minor, Hippocrepis comosa, Onobrychis) and also on young, low shrubs.

Habitat:
Gnophos furvatus colonizes dry warm habitats on limestone and is a typical inhabitant of steppe-like, bushy slopes, nutrient-poor grasslands with open soil spots or rock, dry forest edges and quarries. Most habitats are located in the wooded area, completely grove poor places in open areas are hardly populated.
I found the small caterpillars, for example, in April 2010, on sainfoin, which grew in a stony, open ground-rich embankment between the edge of the forest and a nutrient-poor grassland. In May 2009 I found larvae at night that had climbed to young Viburnum lantana, Prunus spinosa and Lonicera xylosteum, up to 1.5 m in height at the edge of another grassland (both eastern Swabian Alb, Germany).

Life cycle:
The caterpillar overwinters and is mature in May. The moths fly from late June to late August or early September.

Endangerment: strongly endangered

Endangerment factors:
Gnophos furvatus is threatened by habitat alteration (eutrophication, succession with overgrowth, afforestation, overbuilding) and continues to decline.

Remarks:
The distribution extends across Southern and Central Europe.



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