Colobura dirce

Colobura dirce(Colobura dirce)

Phylumarthropoda
Class —insecta
Order — lepidoptera
Family —nymphalidae

Genus –colobura

Appearance

Newborn caterpillars are dark green with a dark brown head. The younger caterpillars are black, with black spines. The older caterpillars are blackwith white spots and numerous rows of long branched yellow and white spines.

The wingspan of this butterfly is about 6 cm. The upperside of the wings is blackish-brown, with a large whitish-yellow stripe on each forewing. The underside of the wings is covered with a pattern of black and white stripes.

Habitat

Colobura dirce is distributed from Mexico to Argentina.

Behavior

It demonstrates daily activity. Males commonly visit orchards or other sites where there are fallen fruits. They are also sometimes imbibe urine from sandbanks.

Both sexes are commonly encountered within shady forest, often in company with Tigridia acesta, sitting on tree trunks. They habitually settle in a head-downwards position with the wings held erect, while imbibing moisture from mosses or from crevices in the bark. Sometimes they are found singly, but more often in groups of 2 or 3.

The caterpillars keep together in groups and weave a net of silk threads around the young shoots, weaving the droppings into it. This protects them from being attacked by ants.

Diet

The larvae feed on Cecropia species.

Reproduction

For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm. The eggs are white and laid in groups of between 2-10 on leaves of the foodplant.The incubation period is 4 days. It is better to keep the caterpillars in terrariums for 6-8 insects.In the terrarium, you need to place a branch of a forage plant.Forage plants should be replaced every 3-4 days.The temperature is 22-25 oC at the humidity of60-75%. The caterpillar develops for 3-4 weeks.The pupa cylindrical, and looks like a dead broken twig.The butterfly hatches 2 weeks after pupation.

In captivity

The mesh terrarium with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed the butterflies with an overripe banana or give them a few drops of honey syrup diluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1:10. You can give them a drink consisting of 10 g of honey, 1 liter of distilled water, 350 ml of beer, 60 g of sucrose, 1 g of ascorbic acid and 1 g of nipagin.

 

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