Page 233 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION Southeastern Mexico, south to the Amazon basin, including
Trinidad, as far south as southeastern Peru and northern Bolivia
HABITAT Forest borders and secondary growth of humid and semi-humid
tropical forests, usually below 3,600 ft (1,100 m) elevation
HOST PLANTS Croton spp.
NOTE Intricately patterned caterpillar that hides within rolled leaves
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but not considered threatened

ADULT WINGSPAN
2–2⅛ in (50–55 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1¾–2⅛ in (45–55 mm)
FOUNTAINEA RYPHEA
FLAMINGO LEAFWING 231

(CRAMER, [1775])

Flamingo Leafwing caterpillars hatch from almost perfectly
round, smooth, and yellowish-white eggs, which are laid singly
on the underside of leaves. Like other, related species, early
instars build and rest upon small lines of their own frass that
are silked into chains extending from the margins of their host
plant leaves. As they grow, the larvae switch to living within a
tubular shelter, which they build by curling up one of the leaves,
usually remaining inside almost constantly, reaching out to feed
on nearby leaf tissue or on the leaf material of the shelter itself.

The larvae may pupate on or o their host plant, hanging their
emerald green and yellow-edged pupa from a thin branch or
the bottom of a leaf.
The Flamingo Leafwing caterpillar is stout,
With its bright colors and intricate patterning, the Flamingo nearly cylindrical, and has a bulbous head
with small, conical, black or yellow bumps. It is
Leafwing caterpillar lives up to its name—as does the ashy complexly patterned with green, yellow, brown,

butterfly. The adults are rapid and powerful fliers, zipping red, and black. The body has minute setae
sparsely scattered across it, though they are
across the treetops, where males often guard small territories, visible only due to the small, bright white
protrusions from which they emerge.
and frequently descending to the ground to feed on organic
material, especially rotting carcasses or dung.

Actual size