Jordanita subsolana (Staudinger, 1862)

Host plants:
The larva feeds on thistle species. In Germany it is observed apparently mainly on Carlina vulgaris, in the Southern Alps and elsewhere on Cirsium eriophorum and Onopordum acanthinum as well as further Cirsium and Carduus species.

Habitat:
Jordanita subsolana inhabits warm and dry, rough pastures and similar habitats with stocks of host plant. In Provence, I found many larvae on the margin of a freshly ballasted forest road through a species-rich dry open woodland with grasslands and Cirsium eriophorum (Massif de la Sainte Baume). In Northern Greece Jordanita subsolana develops also in somewhat more humid sites as is shown by larval observations at a ditch near Grevena.

Life cycle:
The caterpillars overwinter and are mature in May or June. The mid-May (see above) larvae from Provence were in penultimate and ultimate instars and lived in 5 and 50cm in height about one to two centimeters drilled in shoot tips and leaf axils of the host plant, where they ate especially the marrow. The moths flie from late June to July.

Endangerment: strongly endangered

Endangerment factors:
In Central Europe Jordanita subsolana has been pushed back by habitat loss onto a few islands. But Jordanita subsolana lacks vast areas naturally, such as Baden-Württemberg.

Remarks:
Jordanita subsolana is distributed in the southern half of Europe from Spain to the Black Sea and further to Western Asia (Asia Minor etc.). The northern boundary runs through Central Germany.