Imperial Jezebel-caterpillar & pupa

Description:

These deep maroon coloured caterpillar with sparce white setae were clustered together on tips of leaves. Some moved slowly along the leaves and some were covered in a webbing of fine silk.
On some leaves were seen bright orange pupae attached to the leaf by a short cremaster on one end and a silken girdle at the other end. The pupa had a row of black tipped spines along the midline on the dorsal side and a tuft of black remnant exuvia.

Habitat:

Spotted on a drooping mistletoe (Amyema pendula) growing from an old cut end of a branch of a gum tree growing along a boardwalk in a nature reserve- Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve.

Notes:

The caterpillars are said to be close to pupation. The pupa which are orange in Summer gradually darken to a black colour in Winter.
This species of butterfly are one of few whose caterpillars feast on mistletoe leaves.