Page 317 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Zygaenidae
DISTRIBUTION Southern India and Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and southern China
HABITAT Tropical rain forests and humid deciduous forests to 3,300 ft
(1,000 m) elevation
HOST PLANTS Aporusa dioica and Dipterocarpus tuberculatus
NOTE Caterpillar with candy-like appearance that creates its own poison
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated

ADULT WINGSPAN
2⅜–2¾ in (60–70 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1 ⁄ in (30 mm)
CYCLOSIA PAPILIONARIS
DRURY’S JEWEL 315

(DRURY, 1773)

The Drury’s Jewel caterpillar is brightly colored, the yellow
and red warning colors alerting predators to its toxic nature.
As they develop, the larvae feed on the leaves of tall, high-
altitude, tropical trees in primary and secondary forest, and then
pupate in a cocoon attached to the upper surface of a leaf. When
alarmed, the caterpillar exudes droplets of cyanide from the tip
of each of its tubercles. The caterpillars make the cyanide within
their body, unlike many other distasteful species that acquire the
poison from their food plant. However, the toxin is no protection
against frequent paratisitism by nematode worms—often tiny
juveniles that larvae accidentally ingest.

The caterpillar passes its toxin to the adult, a brightly colored,

day- ying moth, which is also poisonous. It is related to the

burnet moths, also of the Zygaenidae family, but has a butter y-
like appearance, reflected in its species name—papilionaris.
The genus Cyclosia comprises 100 or so species. There are eight
subspecies of the Drury’s Jewel found across Southeast Asia.

The Drury’s Jewel caterpillar is quite striking, Actual size
with its blunt shape and rows of raised, yellow
tubercles, each of which bears one or two short,
black hairs. There are six red tubercles. The body
is gray white, and the dorsal tubercles are edged
in white, while the lateral tubercles are edged in
black. The prolegs are yellow.