Page 394 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DISTRIBUTION Both sides of the Andes, from Venezuela to northern Peru
and Bolivia
HABITAT Mountain forests
HOST PLANTS Unknown in the wild; in captivity has fed on Laurel Sumac
(Malosma laurina)
NOTE Nervous giant silkmoth caterpillar that is seldom still
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated

ADULT WINGSPAN
3 –5 in (78–129 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
2¾ in (70 mm)
DIRPHIA SOMNICULOSA
DIRPHIA SOMNICULOSA
392
(CRAMER, 1777)

The Dirphia somniculosa silkmoth caterpillar is extremely
social. The larvae hatch in large numbers from white eggs 60
days after laying and remain close together during most of their
development. They are black in all stages and in the laboratory
have fed voraciously on Laurel Sumac. They grow to a large
size and seem somewhat agitated, moving almost constantly.
At the end of the final instar, the caterpillars descend to the

The Dirphia somniculosa caterpillar is ground, and each forms a loose cocoon of silk and debris under
black with black feet, black rear claspers, leaf litter. Pupation occurs within the cocoon, and it takes several
and a black head. Its spiracles are narrow,
red ovals with white at each end. The dorsal months before the adult moth emerges.
spines are long and black with many black
side spines. White-tipped starbursts of
lateral spines provide a color relief from Accidental contact with the Dirphia somniculosa caterpillar can
the overall blackness of the caterpillar.
result in a painful sting; all caterpillars in the Hemileucinae
subfamily of moths to which it belongs have stinging spines.
It is a common inhabitant of moderately high-altitude forest
throughout most of the Andes and, like most species of giant
silkmoth, is not a pest to agriculture.

Actual size