Page 118 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Hesperiidae
DISTRIBUTION The Andes of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
HABITAT Andean temperate and upper tropical forest edges and roadsides
HOST PLANTS Various genera and species of grasses, including Cenchrus
tristachyus and Paspalum spp.

NOTE Caterpillar that builds a well-camouflaged, tubelike shelter
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but not likely to be endangered

ADULT WINGSPAN
1½–1¾ in (38–45 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1–1³∕₁₆ in (25–30 mm)
VETTIUS CORYNA
SILVER-PLATED SKIPPER
116
(HEWITSON, 1866)

Silver-plated Skipper caterpillars build and rest inside shelters
created by making two cuts on opposite sides of a grass blade
that almost meet at the midvein. The opposing leaf margins are
drawn together with silk to form a shallow pocket or narrow
Actual size tube. Lastly, a tiny cut is made near the base of the leaf midvein,
causing the portion of the blade forming the shelter to sag
downward into a vertical position. Older caterpillars have an
eversible, pale, purple-red, ventral prothoracic “neck” gland.
When disturbed, the caterpillar rears back onto its claspers and,
with its head tipped back, everts the gland.
The Silver-plated Skipper caterpillar has a
translucent, greenish-white head, with black There are some 22 species in the genus Vettius, all with showy
bands running laterally from the ocular area
and meeting dorsally. Two white bands run colorful butterflies. Vettius coryna males guard low perches
anterior to the black bands. The clypeus is

bright white or yellow white, contrasting with throughout the day, dashing out with a flash of silver to challenge
the black mandibles. The simply patterned anything flying past, even species many times their size. Females

body is elongate, emerald green to pale yellow,
and bears four narrow, pale, powdery white, search for oviposition sites during periods of full sun, touching
longitudinal stripes.
down briefly on the upper surfaces of narrow-bladed grasses,

curling their abdomen underneath the blade to lay single eggs,
pausing occasionally to bask.