Page 214 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION Mexico, Central America, most of the Caribbean, south to
Colombia and Ecuador west of the Andes; east of the Andes,
south from the Guianas and Venezuela to southeast Brazil
HABITAT Humid and semi-humid forests, forest edges, and
regenerating habitat
HOST PLANTS Cecropia spp.
NOTE Striking caterpillars that are gregarious and found in leaf shelters
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but unlikely to become endangered

ADULT WINGSPAN
2¾–3 in (70–75 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH

1 ⁄ –1⅜ in (30–35 mm)

COLOBURA DIRCE
ZEBRA MOSAIC
212
(LINNAEUS, 1758)

When not feeding, young Zebra Mosaic caterpillars rest on
frass chains protruding from the leaf margins, which provide
them with a defense against marauding ants. For reasons that
are not fully understood, ants seem unwilling to walk over the
frass chains. As the larvae grow, they leave their frass chains
and feed gregariously in groups of 5 to 20 caterpillars. When
feeding, they usually bite through leaf veins and stems, helping
to drain toxic plant compounds from the leaves and forming
a loose shelter of drooping leaves around themselves. At the

end of the fth and nal instar, larvae leave the group to pupate
alone, either on or close to their host plant.

Although the original spelling of the Zebra Mosaic’s Latin

scienti c name was Papilio dirco, Linnaeus, who rst described
the species more than 250 years ago, misspelled it “dirce.” All
subsequent authors followed suit until this incorrect spelling
The Zebra Mosaic caterpillar has a shiny, black became the correct name, based on nomenclatural rules of
head bearing two short, white horns with brown general usage.
tips, each horn armed with accessory setae. The
body is velvet black with white thoracic scoli and
pale yellow abdominal scoli.

Actual size