| Blue-striped Nettle Grub (formerly known as Latoia lepida) LIMACODIDAE, ZYGAENOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Masaki Ikeda, Japan)
|
| Blue-striped Nettle Grub (formerly known as Latoia lepida) LIMACODIDAE, ZYGAENOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Masaki Ikeda, Japan)
These Caterpillars are initially white with a green stripe along the back. Later instars become green with double row of dark blue spots along the back. The head and tail each have a pair of red horns. The bodies are covered with stinging hairs. Overseas: the caterpillars are agricultural pests, feeding on crops from many plant families, including
The caterpillars grow to a length of abot 4 cms. They pupate in brown or purple papery oval cocoons in leaf litter or under the top-soil.
The adult moths of this species are brown with a green hairy thorax, and a broad green jagged band across each forewing. The hindwings are yellow shading to red at the margins. The males have a wingspan of about 3 cms. The females have a wingspan of about 4.5 cms.
The pheromones of the female moths have been studied.
The species occurs over much of the tropics and subtropics, including
It has been introduced accidentally into
and may also have been introduced accidentally into
If it is found, please call the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline: 1800 084 881.
Further reading :
Pieter Cramer,
Description de Papillons Exotiques,
Uitlandsche kapellen voorkomende in de drie waereld-deelen,
Amsterdam Baalde, vol. 2 (1782), pp. 50-51, and also
Plate 130, fig. E..
George Francis Hampson,
Lepidoptera: Moths,
in W.T. Blandford (ed.):
The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma
Volume 1 (1892), p. 388, No. 859.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(written 13 April 2018, updated 23 April 2023)