Thalpophila matura (Hufnagel, 1766)

Host plants:
The caterpillar feeds primarily on grasses. In winter, it is dependent on species that are also in this season at least partly green, such as Festuca or Bromus erectus.

Habitat:
Thalpophila matura inhabits mostly dry warm habitats such as sandy grasslands and forests on sand as well as nutrient-poor grasslands, slopes, edges and Salvia-Arrhenatheretum meadows. But it penetrates also in alternating wet, rather warm woodlands. Sometimes they can also develop in less intensively managed areas of settlements.

Life cycle:
The caterpillar hatches in September or October (according to flight time). In cloudy weather in October, I found young caterpillars mostly in a moulting rest on grass blades in the morning (eastern Swabian Alb, Germany). The caterpillar moults for the last time around Christmas (depending on the weather, eastern Swabian Alb) and is active at night during milder periods. She burrows in March or April, but rests for several weeks as prepupa. In Central Europe, pupation takes place in June or July and the moths fly from mid-July to early September. The warmer and drier the climate, the later is the flight time. In Baden-Württemberg, Thalpophila matura flies thus earlier in average on the Swabian Alb than in the Upper Rhine Valley. In Provence, I recorded fresh adults in large numbers at a hotel enlightment in late September and early October 2014.

Endangerment: regionally endangered or decreasing

Endangerment factors:
Thalpophila matura is not particularly threatened. But it has suffered heavy losses from the massive decline of extensive, warm-dry grasslands and the dark forest management. Whether it can spread in the wake of global warming remains to be seen.

Remarks:
Thalpophila matura occurs from north Africa across Southern and Central Europe to the Caucasus.