Hipparchia hermione

Hostplant: Hostplants in literature includes 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 underwent the last molt into L5. They usually ate during the night and used a little 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. The males like hill topping and can often be seen rivaling each other at small rocky hilltops in the habitat. The adult butterfly has its main flight period in July.

Note: The Norwegian populations are regarded as its own subspecies, ssp. norwegica.