Page 207 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DIS TRIBUTION Java to Timor and northern Australia
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT
HABIT A T Monsoon forests, especially along streams
HABITAT
HOST PLANTS
HOST PLANTS
HOS T PLANT S Lacewing Vine (Adenia heterophylla)
TE
NOTE Brightly colored, gregarious caterpillar
NO
NOTE
A
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but of no immediate conservation concern
CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERV
TUS
TION S
A
T
ADULT WINGSPAN
2⅝ in (66 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1¼ in (32 mm)
CETHOSIA PENTHESILEA
ORANGE LACEWING 205
(CRAMER, 1777)

Orange Lacewing caterpillars hatch from clusters of eggs
usually laid on the tendrils of the food plant vine or on the upper
surface of leaves. The caterpillars are gregarious and consume
large amounts of leaf material and green stems; in captivity they
will also consume fruit and woody stems. The larvae pupate
together, suspended head down by the cremaster. They can be
found throughout the year, although adult butter ies are most

numerous early in the dry season (April to July).

The caterpillars have aposematic coloration and are distasteful
to predators, as are many species in this subfamily of butter ies

(Heliconiinae). Although most members of the subfamily occur
in the Amazon basin of South America, the genus Cethosia has
12 species that range from India to Australia. The Orange
Lacewing is often displayed in butterfly houses in Australia
because of its ease of rearing and attractive coloration, and the

ight behavior of the adults.

The Orange Lacewing caterpillar is orange
brown with brown, intersegmental bands.
The second, sixth, and eighth abdominal
segments are largely white, the fourth segment
is entirely white, and other segments and the
thorax have white patches. Each of the body
segments has six unbranched, black spines, Actual size
except for the fourth abdominal segment,
where the spines are white and black tipped.
The head is black with two long, cylindrical,
black spines.