Page 222 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION India, Sri Lanka, much of Southeast Asia, the Philippines,
Papua New Guinea, northeast Australia, and adjacent

southwest Paci c Islands
HABITAT Lowland rain forests and adjacent areas
HOST PLANTS Chinese Violet (Asystasia gangetica) and Pseuderanthemum spp.
NOTE Aggressive and voracious caterpillar
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but common

ADULT WINGSPAN
2 ⁄ –2 ⁄ in (62–65 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
2⅛–2⅜ in (55–60 mm)
DOLESCHALLIA BISALTIDE
LEAFWING
220
(CRAMER, [1777])

The Leafwing caterpillar, also known as the Autumn Leaf,
occurs singly or in small numbers often on the widespread
weed Chinese Violet, which in some parts of its range is the
host plant of choice. It is a nocturnal feeder on young plants or
regrowth on more mature plants, hiding by day in ground litter
or under stones near the base of the food plant. The caterpillar
is very active and can move rapidly. It can strip small plants and
sometimes cannibalizes young caterpillars. Initially pale yellow

in color, the caterpillar develops through ve instars in as little
as 12 days, though over a longer period in cooler conditions.

The Leafwing caterpillar is black with The caterpillar pupates head down, suspended by the cremaster
cream subdorsal and lateral spots and attached to a silken pad on the underside of a leaf, usually
further prominent lateral spots of blue and
red. It is covered with numerous branched, some distance from the food plant. The hindwing of the adult
black spines. The head is black with a bluish

sheen and has a pair of branched spines. butter y is protruded into a short tail, giving a resting butter y,
with wings closed, the appearance of a dead leaf, and making it
extremely di cult to detect.

Actual size