Zygaena minos (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)

Host plants:
Pimpinella saxifraga in central Europe, Falcaria in Crimea and possibly Turkey, Eryngium amethystinum in southern Balkans and further to the southeast to Iran (see taxon diaphana)

Habitat:
Zygaena minos inhabits particularly calcareous grasslands and limestone quarries, nutrient-poor hay meadows (mown only once per year), sometimes very sparse pine forests (clearings) and locally also nutrient-poor calcareous fens. In the Alps Zygaena minos occurs only up to about 1100m above sea level.

Life cycle:
On the eastern Swabian Alb the hibernated caterpillars are fully-grown as early as May. They moult here out of the diapause already from late February onwards! The flight time here is from June to July with an average of three weeks earlier than in Zygaena purpuralis. In 2007 (hot spring) the first males appeared in late May! The adults like to feed nectar on Knautia arvensis, Dianthus carthusianorum and Echium vulgare.

Like all Zygaeninae and also many Procridinae Zygaena minos has a fractionate development. The larvae may enter the first diapause already in different instars and may hibernate several times.

Endangerment factors:
Nutrient-poor grasslands are still further declining, so that the insect species that are dependent on it are subject to constant displacement. Zygaena minos is pushed back by grass felting after abandonment immediately.

Remarks:
The imago is not distinguishable from Zygaena purpuralis in the field (only by genital dissection or careful exploration at the living animal), as a caterpillar, however, very easy!

The distribution extends from France across central, eastern and southeastern Europe to the areas east of the Black and Caspian Sea (to northern Iran). In Italy it has been found only locally in the south. In the southern Balkans and more southeastward Zygaena minos is represented by the taxon diaphana (details see there in the special portrait).