| LIMACODIDAE, ZYGAENOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
head spikes collapsed
(Photo: courtesy of Joshua Green, Townsville, Queensland)
|
| LIMACODIDAE, ZYGAENOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
head spikes collapsed
(Photo: courtesy of Joshua Green, Townsville, Queensland)
These Caterpillars sting. This caterpillar is green, with a broad reddish dorsal band outlined with a dark wavy line. The caterpillar has a row of red spikes of stinging hairs along each side of the body, and a row of one each side of the dorsal line on the back of each segment, excepting the second and antipenultimate segments.
The spikes near the head are normally collapsed, but are everted when the animal feels threatened.
The caterpillar has been found feeding on
The caterpillar pupates in a hard brown ellipsoidal cocoon spun in amongst ground litter.
The adult moths of this species are pale green, with rusty red legs and prothorax. The green colour fades in museum specimens. The wingspan is about 4 cms.
The species occurs particularly inland in:
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 29.5, p. 302.
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 105.
Francis Walker,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 32 Supplement 2 (1865), p. 496.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(written 13 November 2007, updated 4 January 2012, 18 September 2015)