info on saddle-back moths, please

[Doug Yanega]

>Hi Bill,
>
>Regarding your inquiry about Saddle-back caterpillars, they form a
>hard-shelled, brown cocoon which is made in a folded dead leaf in the
>litter on the ground.  This seems to be the case for all the Limacodids (at
>least the North American ones that I have reared).

The tropical species are a little more variable, and seem rarely to pupate
in the litter. More commonly they make a "tent" (on a flat surface,
generally a leaf on the host plant) which incorporates urticating hairs,
and underneath this tent they make a hard brown cocoon. Some species of
Acharia mass-pupate on tree trunks, under a huge communal canopy that
matches the color and texture of the bark pretty well. Watching the mass
emergence from one of these is pretty amazing, as the pupae wriggle out of
the canopy partway before the moth breaks out of the pupal skin.

Peace,

Doug Yanega    Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas,
Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG   BRAZIL
phone: 031-449-2579, fax: 031-441-5481  (from U.S., prefix 011-55)
                  http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
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