Thysania agrippina first photograph of the caterpillar !

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    Bonsoir à tous


    Thysania agrippina est une espèce mystérieuse et on ne sait pas grand chose sur ce papillon, sauf que c'est l'espèce considérée comme ayant la plus grande envergure au monde (un peu plus qu'Attacus Atlas, Coscinocera hercules et Argema mittrei et ornithoptera alexandrae)


    A condition que cet article ne soit pas faux, c’est une belle découverte ! Une femelle fécondée capturée en Bolivie en 2021 a donné naissance à quelques chenilles qui n'ont malheureusement pas survécu car la plante hôte n'a toujours pas été découverte.


    lien:

    www.pedersen-bike.dk/indholdto-dnnatur/dkl.htm

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    Sauf erreur de ma part, c'est la première fois qu'une photo de cette espèce est publiée sur internet.


    A ma grande surprise et contrairement à la gravure Sibylla Merian (1705) la chenille n'a pas de pattes membraneuses appelées proleg "fausses pattes" elle ressemble fortement aux arpenteuses

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    Yes, Peter has regularly females laying eggs and made many experiments with possible food plants during the past years. However, as far as I know, none of them was successful.

    Nevertheless, he posted many really interesting pictures and experiences he made with this species (I recommend to read his posts about this species on Facebook).

    Anyways, thanks for sharing!


    Best regards,

    Toni

    There is another picture of a caterpillar of the White Witch (Thysania agrippina). It looks like a grown up caterpillar in it's final stage. Please see the YouTube-Video of Bart Coppens:

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    Also very interesting and informative is his YouTube-Video about his breeding of the Black Witch (Ascalapha odorate):

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    Thank you Bart for sharing your experiences!

    Kind regards, Karl

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    Quote from Karl3

    It looks like a grown up caterpillar in it's final stage. Please see the YouTube-Video of Bart Coppens:

    The original source of the (stolen :face_with_hand_over_mouth:) picture:

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    Best,

    Toni

    Unfortunately the only person to photograph a mature larva found a pre-pupal caterpillar that was wandering & looking for a place to pupate [we've spoken to him!].

    This is unfortunate because it means it was not sitting on the host plant so it could not be identified! So it will remain a mystery..


    Quote from Toni Kasiske

    The original source of the (stolen :face_with_hand_over_mouth:) picture:

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    Best,

    Toni

    Oops, good point, I think I forgot to edit in the persons instagram handle (in the rest of the video I do try to mention my sources for everything, it must have slipped my mind because im chaotic). I'll try to add something in the description


    Anyways back to the topic, I too tried to raise the larvae (I think every person with an interest in moths that visits South America tried atleast once!).

    The result was all of them starving unfortunately. They didn't even really nibble any plants I offered.

    Actually, it's easy to get eggs from females.

    Larvae are very active and seem to run towards the light after they hatch, but they will settle in a dark space on the leaves.



    Ascalapha odorata was tricky to breed but it's definitely not impossible. In fact before me several other people have done it, but I think they failed to take adequate pictures of it because I struggled to find any photo evidence. The big thing I've learned from rearing A. odorata is that the larvae refused to eat mature leaves of Inga in captivity. I reared them exclusively on young shoots and young leaves.

    Maybe T. agrippina has the same preference? If true, it explains why they reject food in captivity.


    Of course I only reared A. odorata once on Inga; so I don't know if they will eat mature foliage of different host plants. Maybe it's specific to Inga, or maybe not :smiling_face: I'll have to ask other people who reared them

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    Quote from Bartmantis

    Larvae are very active and seem to run towards the light after they hatch

    Propably similar behavior than Catocala sp., which should be kept dark after hatching. Maybe they also lay their eggs at the base of large trees and larvae have to move large distances after hatching to reach the prefered leaves (propably feeding on large trees). Maybe...

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