Nymphalis ichnusa Hübner, 1824

Host plants:
The caterpillars live on nettles (Urtica).

Habitat:
Nymphalis ichnusa inhabits especially high-altitude pastures with nettles from 600 to 2000m asl.

Life cycle:
The adults hibernate and fly in two to four generations. In May 2012, I met the butterfly in Sardinia in the high altitudes. A female showed oviposition behaviour in a full sun lit nettle stock (slow approaches, checking quality with feet and antennas, searching an optimum seating/storage location on the underside of leaves), but was interrupted by gathering clouds. The lifestyle is otherwise similar to Nymphalis urticae.

Endangerment factors:
Nymphalis ichnusa is potentially at risk (abandonment of grazing and scrub encroachment/reforestation).

Remarks:
Nymphalis ichnusa is really only a subspecies of Nymphalis urticae that is endemic to Corsica and Sardinia, but is most recently, in the wake of the atomization of species, considered as true species, which is absurd in my opinion.