Page 264 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
DIS TRIBUTION Eastern Ecuador
HABITAT
A
HABIT
HABITAT T Humid montane cloud forest understory and forest edges
HOST PLANTS
HOST PLANTS
HOS T PLANT S Brugmansia aurea

NOTE
TE
NOTE Caterpillar that snips o leaves to eat at ground level
NO
CONSERV A TION S T A TUS Not evaluated, but not considered threatened
CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERVATION STATUS
ADULT WINGSPAN
2⅛–2 ⁄ in (55–65 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
¾– ⁄ in (19–21 mm)
OLERIA BAIZANA
BAEZA GLASSWING
262
(HAENSCH, 1903)

Baeza Glasswing caterpillars hatch from eggs laid singly, o the
host plant in the leaf litter. All instars are rather dull and similar in
appearance to the mature caterpillar. They are slow moving and
reluctant to react, even when touched, generally doing nothing
more than curling into a tight ball. However, during the night,
the larvae climb a food plant seedling and sever a leaf petiole,
parachuting with the leaf to the ground, where they remain while

feeding. There are ve larval instars, and individuals take 75 to
80 days to mature from oviposition to eclosion.
Actual size
Larvae pupate under curled, dead leaves on the forest floor.
The tiny, rounded pupa is a subtle, translucent, dark yellow

with black markings, well camou aged in its leaf-litter habitat.
The cycle recommences as the adults eclose and mate. Females
The Baeza Glasswing caterpillar is very simply are most frequently encountered searching for oviposition sites
patterned and tubular in shape. Its head is round in the deep shade of the cloud forest understory.
and shiny black, as are its true legs. The body
is entirely ochraceous olive to dark greenish
black with only a few wavy, indistinct, white
markings laterally.