"G. rossii lugens", sometimes considered a synonym of the previous subspecies, occurs in Russia from the Siberian Arctic from the northern Urals and the Yamal Peninsula eastwards to the Chukchi Peninsula, north to the Arctic Ocean and on Wrangel Island. Southwards it is only found in mountainous areas such as in the Suntar-Khayata Range (eastern Yakutia), the mountains of southern Yakutia and southwest Irkutsk Oblast, the Yablonoi Mountains of Chita Oblast, and mountains in the northern regions of Amur Oblast, in Kamchatka and in northern Magadan Oblast along the upper reaches of the Kolyma River. This day-flying moth is found in tundras in Arctic and Subarctic areas. It also occurs in rocky alpine tundra habitats on top of high mountains, and has been caught flying in muskeg habitat with trees growing in it in Canada. It is able to survive in extreme environments such as at 2200m above sea level in the Suntar-Khayata Range or at 2400m in Buryatia. It has been recorded at altitudes of 1561m in Coös County, New Hampshire, at 800m in the Richardson Mountains, Yukon, Canada, and at 300m in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The females have fully developed wings and can fly, although they usually do not, but are said to "call out" to the males. This allows the female to save energy. The males are slightly smaller than the females. Males fly rapidly searching for the females during daylight, and are difficult to catch unless waiting near a "calling" female. They are usually on the wing in July in northern British Columbia, although this can depend on the weather and if the snow has melted. On Somerset Island in Nunavut the moths and their caterpillars would appear in large numbers for one or two days in June. In North America as a whole adults have been collected from May to August. In the mountains of Hokkaido females of this species do fly; in this area they lay eggs on upright, woody plant stems. On Ellesmere Island the females typically lay their eggs in a mass on or in their cocoon, although they sometimes lay their eggs on the ground or on vegetation around the cocoon. Females can produce fertile eggs without mating (parthenogenesis). Vladimir Dubatolov was able to rear a female from eastern Yakutia, and subsequently from northwestern Chukotka, without a male present from its emergence from its cocoon, and both times the moths laid eggs which hatched into viable caterpillars.