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Vipsania sp. life cycle. Contains various angles of the adult, most likely male moth, and a picture of the cocoon open with exuvia exposed on the day it eclosed. Wings shimmered in a blueish coloring under light exposure. Location of original encounter. Check for "SIMILAR OBSERVATION SET".

Click to enlarge.

GENERAL NOTES:

All information in this post is 100% accurate. Whenever doubt is implied, it is mentioned as so.

Similar observation set field ID: 106320771

Lepidoptera: Zygaenoidea: Limacodidae: Limacodinae

Date of this edition: 16th of April, 2022.

LIFE CYCLE DETAILS:

Six larvae were collected. 5 made it to adulthood and were released, and 1 died. Only one adult was evidenced after eclosion and was registered. The other 4 adults flew away before being seen, with the opened cocoons with the chrysalis exuviae exposed.

Larvae were collected feeding on Erythroxylum sp. (Malpighiales: Erythroxylaceae), probably Erythroxylum suberosum. The larvae fed on the edges of the leaves, although this can be contested as they were seen feeding on already-existing holes away from the edges; not sure if they made the holes or they were already there. During monitoring, the larvae did not exhibit hostile behaviour towards each other, no matter if far or close. After molting, the larvae fed on the exuvia.

Due to complications on acquiring more leaves of the original host plant (although it is fairly common), I tried to uncover other potential host plants. Four potential host plants were found, two of which were not appealing but nonetheless eaten. These plants included: Anona sp. (Annonaceae), Plumeria rubra (Apocynaceae), Citrus limon (Rutaceae) and a small variant of red Ixora sp. (Rubiaceae). The larvae fed voraceously on the leaves of Anona sp. and were often seen feeding on the leaves of Plumeria rubra. They avoided the leaves of Citrus limon and Ixora sp., but were seldomly seen chewing them. Curiously, larger versions of Rubiaceae (Ixora-like appearance) were completely ignored.

One of the larvae already arrived displaying odd behaviours, such as lack of mobility, spasms and avoided eating Erythroxylum and other plants. That larva died as depicted by one of the observations included below.

The cocoon made displayed a pinkish coloring and had a hatch-like entrance (observation included below). After a few days, the coloring turned darker and darker, until eclosion happened (observations included below). The chrysalis exuvia was seen popping out of the opened hatch-like entrance and the adult moth was seen hanging on the pot walls (observations included below). The moth positioned itself oddly as seen in the registers below and flew away moments after. Probably a characteristic positioning. The moth had glass-like translucent wing cells, a trait often seen on males.

Pupa stage presumably took 29 days. The cocoon was made on the 17th of March, 2020, and the moth eclosed on the 14th of April, 2020. Pre pupa stage was not registered nor seen, and thus cannot be reported here; it is unknown if it pupated in the same day the cocoon was made - due to the impossibility of seeing the larva, as it was inside the cocoon, this was impossible to know, but can be assumed. So, to be more exact, the pupa stage could have lasted a tad bit less. The chrysalis was not registered nor seen as this would imply opening the cocoon, which could lead to damage to the animal; only the chrysalis exuvia was registered and had remarkable traits as observed.