Page 393 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DISTRIBUTION New Guinea, northern Australia
HABITAT Tropical rain forests
HOST PLANTS Variety of rain forest trees, including Bleeding Heart
(Homalanthus populifolius), Dysoxylum spp., and
Glochidion spp.
NOTE Fleshy, blue-green caterpillar that has eyespots to
confuse predators
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but not threatened

ADULT WINGSPAN
Up to 10½ in (270 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
4 in (100 mm)
COSCINOCERA HERCULES
HERCULES MOTH 391

(MISKIN, 1876)

Hercules Moth caterpillars emerge from rusty-colored eggs,
laid singly or in small groups on the leaves of host plants. The
female moth lays up to 400 eggs that take about two weeks to
hatch. The young caterpillars are mostly white and covered in
small spines, but become blue in the later stages. The larvae
are very large, with a voracious appetite to match. They eat
a range of rain forest food plants, especially the leaves of the
Bleeding Heart tree.

After three months, the mature caterpillars crawl to the ground
to pupate, spinning a brown-colored cocoon wrapped in a leaf

for camou age. The emerging moths, named for their size after
the Greek hero Hercules, are the largest in Australia and among The Hercules Moth caterpillar is blue green
the largest in the world. However, they lack any mouthparts so with orangey-red spiracles. The head is also
blue green with yellowish-white stripes. The
cannot feed and live only for a few days. The males are active at thoracic and abdominal segments bear rubbery,
night, ying many miles in search of females. yellow-and-white spines, and the true legs are

black. There are two false eyes at the rear end
to deter predators.

Actual size