Page 111 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Hesperiidae
DISTRIBUTION Timor, New Guinea, and northern and eastern Australia
HABITAT Lowland open forests and paperbark woodlands
HOST PLANTS Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica) and Guinea Grass
(Panicum maximum)
NOTE Caterpillar that constructs a shelter from one rolled leaf blade
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but locally common in northern areas

ADULT WINGSPAN
⅞ in (22 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1 in (25 mm)
SUNIANA LASCIVIA
DINGY GRASS-DART 109

(ROSENSTOCK, 1885)

The Dingy Grass-dart caterpillar constructs a shelter from a
single leaf blade by rolling the edges and joining them with silk.
This refuge is in the upper part of the leaf, and the larva emerges
from the bottom of the shelter at night to feed on the leaf below.
Eventually, the shelter, and the leaf above, are left drooping
down, with only the uneaten midrib preventing the structure
from falling. After consuming the shelter, the caterpillar will
move to another leaf and construct a new one.

Actual size

Pupation occurs in the final larval shelter, or a new construction
at the base of the plant, but only after the larva has plugged both
ends of the shelter with silk. There is only one generation a year
in the south of the range, but the species breeds throughout
the year in tropical areas, with several generations completed The Dingy Grass-dart caterpillar is pale
annually. There are three species in the Suniana genus, all of green with a darker middorsal line. Its anal
segment is rounded and has short hairs.
them from the same Timor, New Guinea, and Australia region. The head is pale brown with a narrow reddish
lateral band surrounding more central,
elongated longitudinal patches.