Orthosia populeti (Fabricius, 1775)

Host plants:
The caterpillar lives at Populus species (poplar), especially at Populus tremula and Populus nigra (including hybrid poplars P. canadesis).

Habitat:
Orthosia populeti inhabits riparian forests and generally moist, soft wood-rich areas. I found the caterpillars on the eastern Swabian Alb along with those of Enargia paleacea and Apatura ilia at the same aspen bushes in a light, moist forest with Coenonympha hero.

Life cycle:
The moths fly from late February to late April or even early May, depending on altitude and weather conditions. The caterpillar lives from mid-April to June. I found it mature in late May. The moth overwinters almost completely developed in the pupal case.

Endangerment factors:
Orthosia populeti is moderately endangered since poplars as little productive softwood are hardly tolerated in forests and poplar avenues are becoming less common because of partly incomprehensible, sometimes wrong reasons (even some conservation circles advocate cutting of old hybrid poplars, e.g. avenues).

Remarks:
The distribution extends from the Pyrenees across large parts of Europe (except the extreme north and south) to Western Asia.