Page 246 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION Southeastern Colombia, through the Andes to Bolivia and
northern Argentina
HABITAT Montane forest edges, stream banks, and landslides
HOST PLANTS Bamboo (Chusquea spp.)
NOTE Caterpillar that mimics twiggy portions of its host plant
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but not considered threatened

ADULT WINGSPAN
2 ⁄ –2
⁄ in (52–58 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
2–2⅜ in (50–60 mm)
LASIOPHILA ORBIFERA
FIERY SATYR
244
BUTLER, 1868

Fiery Satyr caterpillars, like other members of the subtribe
Pronophilina, hatch from round, yellowish eggs laid singly on
their host plant. The pale, brownish appearance of the larvae is
unremarkable, but that coloration, together with their shape,

provides wonderful camou age, making them a near perfect
match for the dried leaves of their host. When not feeding, the
caterpillars rest on the numerous dead leaves that often remain
attached to, or caught in bunches on, the living portions of
bamboo. In this position, the larvae are all but invisible, and
only a trained eye can see them.

Adults are commonly seen in rapid, erratic ight along roadsides
The Fiery Satyr caterpillar is pale brown with
variable amounts of dark or reddish-brown and streams, almost exclusively in association with bamboo.
striping and spotting across the dorsum.
The head is similarly colored and bears two While feeding at rotting fruit, dung, or carrion, they sit with
long, rounded head horns, while the terminal wings held closed and the forewings tucked rearward between
abdominal segment is similarly divided into
two long tails, which are almost always held the hindwings, the somewhat complex, lea ike patterning of
together to further mimic the pointed end

of a leaf. which makes the adults di cult to spot.

Actual size