You are currently in the rearing archives; click here to return to the index. The archives are a community project where everyone can submit caresheets.

NOTE: I believe the species reported to me here is actually Pachyna subfascia!

The awesome and impressive female of Pallastica mesoleuca – a giant among Lasiocampidae.

The credit for this rearing goes to my friend Marcel van Bijnen, who kindly provided me these images. When he was traveling through Uganda, he encountered an impressive caterpillar, one that turned out to be of the Lasiocampidae moth Pallastica mesoleuca.

The caterpillar of Pallastica mesoleuca, an impressive beast covered with spines.

Not much at all is known about the biology of this moth. My friend Marcel from the Netherlands has encountered and reared this moth in the wild. This small article illustrates the larva, cocoon and adult female that hatched from it.

 The pupa and cocoon of Pallastica mesaleuca, including a leaf  of the host plant, Terminalia cattapa

The female seems to have a wingspan around 140mm, making them one of the larger Lasiocampidae out there. The larva has tufts on its side that make it blend together with the surface it is resting on, much in a Catocala-like fashion. The back contains little to no hair, but does have the typical patches of sharp spines that many Lasiocampidae have.

The live female of Pallastica mesoleuca

The larva spinning a thick cocoon inside the container

The host plants is identified as Terminalia cattapa,  also known as “Indian almond”. This is probably one of the very few known confirmations of the natural host plant.

The adult moth of Pallastica mesoleuca prepared for collection 

Caterpillarzilla – what a beast it is!

Pallastica mesoleuca on Marcel’s hand

Pallastica mesoleuca pretending to be dead

Thanks for the submission of Marcel van Bijnen.

You are currently in the rearing archives; click here to return to the index. 

Thank you for visiting my website! Are you perhaps..

• Not done browsing yet? Then click here to return to the homepage.
• Looking for caresheets of certain species? Then click here to see the full species list. 

Was this information helpful to you? Then consider contributing here (click!) to keep this information free and support the future of this website.