Hadena syriaca (Osthelder, 1933)

Host plants:
The eggs are placed in flowers of Silene species (cloves). I received repeatedly caterpillars from samples of Silene graeca (N-Greece). In Samos, I recorded them on Silene dichotoma.

Habitat:
Hadena syriaca inhabits dry warm habitats such as steppe slopes, scrub, grasslands and similar places. I found caterpillars in the Askio Mountains (Northern Greece) on a hot dry slope with Acronicta orientalis, Carcharodus orientalis, Erynnis marloyi, Pyrgus sidae, Pyrgus armoricanus, Hadena silenes, Hadena magnolii, Tarucus balkanicus, the grasshopper Celes variabilis and many other companions.

Life cycle:
The pupa hibernates. The moths fly from April to June quite early in a single generation. I received the young caterpillars along with those of Hadena silenes in late May 2011 and 2012 with Silene graeca a (Askion, Northern Greece). In breeding some of the moths appeared without wintering, so that there may be a partial second generation also in the field (around July).

Endangerment factors:
Hadena syriaca is threatened by overbuilding and cultivation of dry habitats.

Remarks:
Hadena syriaca occurs in Ponto-Mediterranean distribution very local on the southern Balkans (Greece, southern Bulgaria), around the Black Sea, generally in Asia Minor and from the Near and Middle East to Pakistan.