Melanargia pherusia

Boisduval, 1833

Description:
This Marbled White lives in rocky places with dry, grassy vegetation. Its food plants are grasses, and probably the false-brome Brachypodium retusum is one of them.
After hatching, the tiny caterpillar first eats up the shell of its egg and then becomes inactive in the summer months, only beginning to feed in the autumn. The next spring, when it is fully-grown, it spins a little tent from sand and plant remains in which to pupate.

Habitat:
Dry calcareous grasslands
Sclerophyllous scrub

Similar species:
Unmistakable

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