(Photo: courtesy of Peter Daniel)

These Caterpillars had an extraordinary behaviour observed in October in Kuanda, Queensland. The caterpillars each positioned themselves so that they were hanging on a stem between penultimate and final leaves on that stem. There were many Caterpilars of the same species on the tree, and they looked at first glance to be the catkin flowers of the tree. Only closer inspection revealed that the "flowers" were in fact caterpillars. They had a length of about 6 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Bruce Parker, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville)

The adult moths are large for the family, reaching a wingspan of up to 8 cms. Whilst being somewhat variable, they are generally dark blue with clear areas in both fore wings, and an irregular row of orange spots around the outer edge of each hind wing. The body is banded in dark blue and orange.

(Photo: taken at Dunk Island, courtesy of Ted Cadwallader)

The species is found over all the tropical north of Australia.

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 372.

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