Page 414 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DISTRIBUTION Eastern Mexico, south to northern Venezuela, Colombia,
and Ecuador west of the Andes
HABITAT Forests and scrub, tropical to temperate
HOST PLANTS Leguminous trees; in captivity has fed on Robinia spp.
and Acacia spp.
NOTE Gregarious caterpillar whose appearance helps distinguish
it from similar species
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated

ADULT WINGSPAN
2⅜–3 ⁄ in (60–94 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
2½ in (63 mm)
MOLIPPA NIBASA
MOLIPPA NIBASA
412
MAASSEN & WEYDING, 1886

When the tiny caterpillar of Molippa nibasa hatches from a

brown-and-white egg, it is a greenish esh color with a black
head and translucent spines. After molting to the third instar,
it is black with yellow bands of skin sprouting long, branching
yellow spines and reddish legs and head. From the outset, the
caterpillar is very social, feeding close together with its siblings.
After about ve weeks, it spins a papery cocoon covered by a leaf

or debris in a hidden place.

Molippa nibasa is a member of the Hemileucinae, the subfamily
The Molippa nibasa caterpillar is greenish of wild silkmoths with a large number of species—all with
yellow with scattered small, black, variable stinging caterpillars—that are found only in the Americas.
blotches and white, oval spiracles. There is

a broad, black, subspiracular band with tiny, Several of the species related to M. nibasa are di cult to tell apart
white dots on each side, partially divided by
broad, vertical bars of dark red. A band of as adults, but their caterpillars are distinct.The name of one of
long, branched yellow spines protects each the authors of the species, Weyding, was inadvertently
segment. The legs and head are red.
misspelled as Weymer in 1886 by the British entomologist
Herbert Druce (1846–1913), an error still widely found today.

Actual size