Eucheira socialis

[Chris J. Durden]

The Madrone Butterfly - *Eucheira madrono* (Von Humboldt 1804) including
*E. m. socialis* Westwood, is one of the most interesting of butterflies.
It is one of three or four Aporiine Pierids (the others are species of
*Neophasia*) that occur in North America. Its Old World relatives in the
genus *Aporia* also have tent-forming communal larvae. The larvae of the
Madrone Butterfly are considered edible. The silk is tangled because it is
made by a number of larvae crossing paths so it cannot be unwound. Aztec
people tore patches of the silk tent and laminated them to make paper on
which they printed their books (hundreds of years before Gutenberg). At
night the butterflies are in the tent while the larvae are out feeding and
repairing the tent. On sunny days the adults are out defending perches and
laying eggs while the larvae (and pupae) are in the tent. By day the larvae
surround the inside of the tent opening and when ichneumons appear there is
much thrashing and gnashing of jaws. Some of this threat posture may
discourage some entry of parasites to the tent. The colonies I have studied
were in Durango and Sinaloa. The other place I have seen a tent was in the
Animas Mountains in New Mexico, but this was before I had heard of
*Eucheira*, and I dismissed the tent on madrone as some silk moth cocoon.
Oh well, next time!
............Chris Durden
 
At 06:27 PM 1/30/2001 -0800, you wrote:
>         The current (Feb 2001) issue of Natural History (magazine of the
>American Museum of Natural History) has a great article on the Eucheira
>socialis, the Pierid which is found mostly in the Mexican highlands and
>whose caterpillars build an almost plastic-like pouch from their silk.
>Sometime last year, this butterfly came up in our discussions on Leps-L.
>---Best regards, Fred
 
 
 
 
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