Satyrium esculi (Hübner, 1804)

Host plants:
The larvae feed on Quercus species, especially Quercus ilex and supposedly also Q. coccifera and others.

Habitat:
Satyrium esculi is mostly found in hot and dry, open woods and bushy slopes as well as in garigues and maquis.

Life cycle:
The egg respectively the caterpillar in the egg shell overwinters on twigs and stems. I tapped the larvae from flowering evergreen oaks in the Massif de la Sainte Baume in Provence in May. The larvae are relatively late mature because of the late sprouting of Quercus ilex. The adults fly from early June to July (sometimes still rare in early August) with peak in late June/early July. In the very south rarely already from late May. The imagines love to suck on blackberry and pistachio flowers.

Endangerment factors:
Satyrium esculi is probably moderately at risk, mostly by converting the sparse oak woods in pine plantations, vineyards or other cultivation and overbuilding.

Remarks:
Satyrium esculi occurs in Atlanto-Mediterranean distribution from North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula along the French Mediterranean coast to Provence and Ardèche.