Page 242 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION The Andes of Colombia, south to southern Peru
HABITAT Regenerating montane habitat, especially at forest margins and
landslides, from around 6,600 ft (2,000 m) elevation to the treeline
HOST PLANTS Bamboo (Chusquea spp.)
NOTE Caterpillar that near perfectly mimics a dying host plant leaf
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but not considered threatened

ADULT WINGSPAN
2⅜–2¾ in (60–70 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
2⅛–2 ⁄ in (55–65 mm)
JUNEA DORINDA
DORINDA SATYR
240
(FELDER & FELDER, 1862)

Dorinda Satyr caterpillars hatch from round, yellow-white
eggs, laid singly on fresh leaves of their host plants. Like many
other satyrine larvae feeding on bamboo, they are wonderfully
cryptic when at rest on a specific portion of the plant. The
yellowish ground color and pointed head and rear of the mature
caterpillar make it nearly impossible to see when it rests on a
dying (though not fully dried) bamboo leaf. Younger caterpillars
are greenish and generally rest upon green leaves, often along
the skeletonized vein of a partially consumed leaf.

The Dorinda Satyr caterpillar is almost
entirely, including the head, a dull yellowish Adults are extremely fast and erratic iers, almost impossible to

or orangish-brown color, looking much like
a yellowed and dying leaf of its host plant. identify on the wing. However, the unique, complexly patterned
Irregular, small, brownish markings add to
its crypsis. The body ends with a bi d tail undersides of their wings easily distinguish them from other
that is held together, and the head is conically species in the cloud forest when they rest on the ground,
projected upward into a similar point.
frequently feeding on rotting fruit, carrion, or dung. Although
Junea dorinda is predominantly a species of bamboo patches,
its butterflies can occasionally be seen zipping across open
paramo (high, treeless plateaus) above the treeline.

Actual size