Ecological niche comparison of two cohabiting species, the threatened moth Eriogaster catax and Eriogaster lanestris (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) - relevance for their conservation

Eriogaster catax and E. lanestris (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) are two cohabiting species with extremely isolated populations. The anthropic impact lead to a decrease in their distributional areas, which led to the inclusion of E. catax in Annexes II and IV of the Council Directive 92/43/EEC. There are few studies regarding the species in question, revealing the scarcity of data regarding their biology and ecology. Our study was conducted in a Natura 2000 protected area, Turda Gorge (Romania) where the two species are present in an agroecosystem used as a pasture, which is covered in patches of by their main host plants, Prunus spinosa and Crataegus spp. The present study provides important data which can be used for the species conservation of E. catax, and it reveals a series of similarities between E. catax and E. lanestris with regards to habitat preferences and ecological needs in choosing the oviposition site.