Page 375 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DISTRIBUTION Central and South America, including Costa Rica, Colombia,
and Ecuador
HABITAT Tropical rain forests
HOST PLANTS Mostly members of Malvaceae, including Apeiba spp.,
Luehea spp., and Pithecellobiun spp.

NOTE Large, unusual-looking caterpillar that is camou aged by
disruptive coloring
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated

ADULT WINGSPAN
6⅛–6½ in (155–165 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
Up to 4 in (100 mm)
ARSENURA BATESII
ARSENURA BATESII 373

(R. FELDER & ROGENHOFER, 1874)

The female Arsenura batesii moth lays several hundred creamy-
white eggs, depositing them singly on the upper surface of
leaves, so they are scattered through the crowns of the food
plant trees. The caterpillars hatch and consume their eggshell
before eating leaves. Although little is known of their feeding
habits, one of two subspecies, A. batesii Druce, reportedly
feeds by day on leaves in the tree crown during early instars,
resting on foliage. In the penultimate instar, however, it is said
to rest on the trunk by day, returning to the canopy at night,
and simultaneously changes color from mottled brown green
to brown black.

The unusual patterning of Arsenura batesii
larvae is thought to be disruptive, helping to

break up their outline and making it di cult for

predators to spot them. By the nal instar, larvae

resemble dead sticks, losing the long tentacles
they have at earlier stages. The species belongs to
the subfamily Arsenurinae, which consists of large
Neotropical saturniids. Like most of the 23 species
of their genus, the larvae are solitary in all instars. Actual size

The Arsenura batesii caterpillar, here in its
penultimate instar, has a brown head and
brown-black body with two large, lateral,
yellow-green blotches and four, long tentacles
(lost in the nal instar) that are colored yellow
white to brown. A further long projection near the
posterior end also disappears at the nal instar,
when the caterpillar largely resembles a stick.
The prolegs may be orange.