Page 259 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION Northwest Himalayas, northern India, southern China, Chinese
Taipei, Myanmar, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra
HABITAT Subtropical and tropical evergreen forests
HOST PLANTS Hall Crab Apple (Malus halliana) and Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
NOTE Trapeze artist of the caterpillar world
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but occurs in localized colonies so prone to threats

ADULT WINGSPAN
2⅛–2 ⁄ in (55–65 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1 ⁄ in (30 mm)
NEPTIS SANKARA
BROAD-BANDED SAILER 257

(KOLLAR, 1844)

Like many nymphalid caterpillars, the Broad-banded Sailer
incorporates frass chains and perches during its development.
By creating a safe place on the food plant and building barriers of
silk and frass, otherwise defenseless larvae can isolate themselves
from predators and accidents. The species persists with the
strategy into later instars by “trapezing.” Having stripped
the leaf down to the midrib, the caterpillar lines it with silk Actual size
and leaf fragments, then spends much of the day hanging
there, resembling debris. It migrates to other leaves to feed and
pupates on foliage within a curved chrysalis. There are two
generations annually.

Typical of its genus, the Broad-banded Sailer butterfly is
disruptively marked in black and white on its topside with
cryptic brown-and-white patterns on the underside. This
species and fellow “sailers” of Neptis are named for the way the
butter ies rotate between perches in a very similar gliding or

sailing fashion. Neptis larvae share the broad, horned head and
eshy thoracic tubercles of N. sankara, although each species has

its own variations. Populations of the Broad-banded Sailer are
localized and often isolated. The Broad-banded Sailer caterpillar is dark brown
with tiny, irregular ecks of green across the head
capsule and along the length of the body laterally.
Mid-abdomen, there are elongated, reddish-brown,
wavy blotches incorporating another green spot
within a larger white zone. The disproportionately
broad head is topped with a pair of small horns.
The third thoracic segment bears a pair of
prominent, forward-pointing, soft-tipped, eshy
processes, and the second segment has a single
ridge-like process.