Page 571 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Erebidae
DISTRIBUTION Eastern Ecuador, most of eastern Peru
HABITAT Montane cloud forest borders and nearby second-growth habitats
HOST PLANTS Erato polymnioides and Miconia spp.
NOTE Caterpillar patterned in orange, red, and brown, like the adult
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but not considered threatened

ADULT WINGSPAN
1⅝–1⅞ in (42–48 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
2⅛–2¾ in (55–70 mm)
MELESE PERUVIANA
MELESE PERUVIANA 569

(ROTHSCHILD, 1909)

Melese peruviana caterpillars are found feeding as solitary
individuals, resting on the top of their host plant leaves. When
disturbed, they generally lift their thorax from the leaf surface,
wiggle it about a little halfheartedly, and then drop from the
plant to crawl quickly out of sight into the leaf litter. In their nal

instar, they are large, attractive caterpillars, with fewer setae than
many members of the Erebidae. The long, quite tightly packed
tufts of setae that project forward over the head appear almost
like the antennae of an adult insect and are perhaps used to sense
air currents produced by the approach of a potential predator.
The Melese peruviana caterpillar is slender,
The adults of Melese peruviana are, despite their relatively with a uniformly orangeish head and a complexly
patterned body. The ground color is slightly
bright red-and-yellow patterning, well camouflaged when beige, with olive, orange, or black washing to
resting among the dead foliage where they generally spend some areas and bright red spots, of various
sizes, dorsally. There are only sparse, dull orange
the day. They are commonly attracted to lights at certain times setae, the most noticeable arranged in two,
forward-projecting tufts on the pronotum.
of the year and nearly absent during others. The species was
rst described from Peru and later found in eastern Ecuador;

its range likely includes at least southeastern Colombia.

Actual size