Host plants:
I found many larvae on the very sticky species Silene paradoxa, which is related with Silene nutans and has significantly larger fruits. It grew on muddy slopes in a light downy oak forest interspersed with grasslands (Northern Greece).
Habitat:
Hadena adriana inhabits steppe forests, woodland edges, embankments with open soil and gappy grasslands with occurrence of Silene.
Life cycle:
In mid-July 2007 I found mostly small to half-grown caterpillars syntopically with those of Hadena albimacula. The larvae live mostly within the large capsules. All pupae entered diapause. Most adults emerged only after two winters.
Endangerment factors:
There may be locally the risk of overgrazing. But grazing keeps the habitats in a half-open state on the other hand and prevents a complete bush encroachment and reforestation which would be negative.
Remarks:
Hadena adriana is distributed in Europe very locally from southeasternmost France across parts of Italy to the Balkan Peninsula (from Croatia along the coast to almost the whole of Greece and Crete). Further sites are known from Asia Minor to Iran.