Minois dryas

• Subfamily: Satyrinae - Satyrini
• Wingspan: 50-65 mm
• Flight period: Giu - Sept
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Poaceae

Information

The Minois dryas also called Dryad is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family, subfamily Satyrinae, of medium large size, with wingspan of 35 - 50 mm.
It is distributed in southern and central Europe, up to central Asia and Japan, it is absent from the Benelux, Denmark, from the United Kingdom, the Scandinavian Peninsula and the Baltic countries. In Italy it is absent from the islands. *

The wings of the Minois dryas are brown in color, darker towards the edge, on each front wing there are two large ocelli with bluish pupils. The hind wings of the same color as the front ones, sometimes with the presence of an ocello in the anal area, sometimes without occellus. The underside of the wings is quite similar, but the ocelli on the front wings show an edge yellowish and the hind wings are mainly gray-brown also these sometimes with the presence of an ocello in the anal area, sometimes without an ocello. **

It prefers edges of mixed woods and sunny meadows with an abundance of flowers, at an altitude ranging from 100 to 1,600 meters above sea level even if sometimes it can be found near the costaal pine forests . The butterfly is in flight from June to September depending on the latitude.
The caterpillar is off-white / light brown in color with dark designs and two blackish bands extending over the forked tail.

The larvae feed on various species of Poaceae, such as Molinia caerulea, Arrhenatherum elatius, Oryza sativa, Avena, Dactylis, Poa, Festuca, Carex, Calamagrostis and Bromus.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Simon Coombes Captain's European Butterfly Guide