Hipparchia hermione

Hostplant: Hostplant in litterature include Festuca ovina and Brachypodium spp. I used Festuca ovina in my breeding. I tried giving some of the larva Brachypodium pinnatum, but they did not accept this.

Lifecycle and behavior: Female laid eggs easily in captivity, even without the proper hostplant available. The eggs used about 2 weeks to hatch. The larva hibernated as penultimate instar(L4). After hibernation they undervent the last molt into L5. They usually ate during the night and used alittle over 1 month from they were taken out of hibernation until the first larva pupated. Pupation stage lasted about 2 weeks. This species is limited to rocky areas in the southern part of Norway and are regarded as its own subspecies, ssp. norwegica. The males like hilltopping and can often be seen rivaling eachother at small rocky hilltops in the habitat. The adult butterfly has its main flight period in July.