Tony James' photos with the keyword: pudica

Arctiidae, Arctiinae Length (Last Instar) : 40mm. After 4 weeks, the growing larvae had reached their final instar, and was approaching pupation when individuals began acting rather strange. Although looking healthy, they would suddenly stop feeding and stayed hunched in one place, slowly shrinking in length, before finally dieing. There was no obvious reason for their plight, and what-ever happened eradicated the whole culture within two weeks. The only possibility, was that the foodplant collected from wild ground by the road-side nearby had been contaminated by a farmer spraying weed-killer or insecticide in the adjacent fields. I have had a similar instance on a new culture of a large species of Phasmid collected in Fiji many years ago which suffered the same fate, with almost the same situation of reaching final instar and then suddenly all dieing. The problem of living in an agricultural environment. :(

Arctiidae, Arctiinae Length (2nd Instar) : 15mm Eggs laid by females of this species when waiting in our holding pots whilst recording them were collected and brought back to the UK to attempt life cycle exploration. After hatching a few weeks later, and following research on the Web, the young larvae were offered coarse grass leaves, which were accepted readily and enthusiastically, and their size progressed continually. Around 50 larvae made up the growing culture.

Arctiidae, Arctiinae Wingspan : 42mm. A common little Tigermoth in this area which came in nightly to our Trap, and a few of the females laid eggs which we attempted to rear. 17 adults were recorded during our stay. Apparently a Mediterranean species.