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Caterpillar of Malay Lacewing

Cethosia hypsea

Description:

Caterpillar, around 6 cm in length, black in colour, red on the top and a band of white in the middle, quite spiny.

Habitat:

Tropical forest

5 Comments

AlbertKang
AlbertKang 7 years ago

Thanks, Keith/Early Stages for the ID help and giving detailed explanations on the differences :)

bayucca
bayucca 7 years ago

Thanks, Keith for your expertise!

EarlyStages
EarlyStages 7 years ago

Hi Albert, excellent photos as usual!
Hi Dominik, the difference between Cethosia hypsea and C. methypsea larvae is indeed subtle, but nevertheless consistent, at least in Singapore and apparently the adjacent Indonesian islands. Thus, please be cautious with any future caterpillar IDs, as the referenced thoracic distinction may not apply elsewhere – for example the Philippines, where only C. hypsea narrowly occurs. Here are other useful links . . .
* http://butterflycircle.blogspot.sg/2013/...
* http://butterflycircle.blogspot.sg/2015/...
* https://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforest... (same as above but more helpful)

AlbertKang
AlbertKang 7 years ago

Thanks, @bayucca for the ID suggestions.
Is Keith on Project Noah?

bayucca
bayucca 7 years ago

Nymphalidae, Cethosia sp., not really sure which one, one was IDed as Cethosia hypsea hypsina, the other one as Cethosia methypsea. For me they both look identical and both IDs seem to be trustable, so maybe the geographical range may help more.
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist...
https://rainforests.smugmug.com/keyword/...

I hope that Keith might jump in to help...

AlbertKang
Spotted by
AlbertKang

Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia

Spotted on Nov 22, 2016
Submitted on Dec 7, 2016

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