Saragossa porosa (Eversmann, 1854)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on halophilous and quite small Artemisia species. In Hungary, they are found on A. maritima only.

Habitat:
Saragossa porosa inhabits halophilous Artemisisa steppes. In Hungary I recorded young larvae at hot, gappily vegetated spots resting on Artemisia maritima shoots during daytime in late July 20210.

Life cycle:
The pupa hibernates. The moths occur presumably often in a single generation in June and July. In SE-Europe (also elsewhere) there is obviously a partial second brood and moths are recorded between mid-May and early September. The young larvae from late July 2021 resulted in hibernating pupae. These young larvae should have originated from the first moths generation and have been deposited as eggs presumably in early July. The young larvae can be searched for during daytime. The older larvae are strictly nocturnal and ascent ton the stems after dusk.

Endangerment factors:
In Europe, Saragossa porosa has already been pushed back severely due to agricultural intensification of economical useless salt steppes and is still found especially in protected areas.

Remarks:
Saragossa porosa occurs especially from southern and eastern Ukraine across the steppe belt of southern Russia and adjacent regions (e.g. Kazakhstan) to lake Aral in Asia. Moreover, in SE-Europe there are small populations in Hungary and western Romania (subsp. kenderesiensis (Kovacs, 1968) and in E-Romanian Dobrogea.