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Callopistria floridensis, the Florida fern moth or Florida fern caterpillar, is a moth of the family Noctuidae.It is found from North America (including Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, New Brunswick, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas), [1] south through the Caribbean (including Cuba), [2] Mexico and ...
The caterpillar food plants--also called the host plants--for gulf fritillaries are members of the genus Passiflora. The adult butterflies use nectar from many flowers, including Lantana plants. The Passiflora host plants are frequently called passion vines ; in some Texan counties where this butterfly's population is high, gulf fritillaries ...
Sixth-instar caterpillars below the threshold size for pupation at the end of the fifth instar are killed through parasite emergence. Upon reaching the fifth instar, the caterpillar will enter a wandering stage, as is typical, but will not progress further and will not form a cocoon. The onset of the wandering stage is temporally delayed as ...
As caterpillars, they tend to feed on a wide range of host plants. This includes oak, apple, birch, willow, hackberry, cherry and coniferous trees such as fir and spruce.
The Entomology and Nematology department of the University of Florida writes that the caterpillar is found "from New Jersey to Florida and west to Arkansas and Texas (Covell 2005). It is common in ...
During the caterpillar stage, Gulf Fritillaries feed on passionflower vines, including maypop (Passiflora incarnata), a native species common in the Southeast. A single, sprawling vine may be ...
At these final stages, the tubercles become blue, yellow or orange, depending on location on the body, while the black hairs are eventually lost. The caterpillars reach maturity in autumn and are about 4 to 4.5 inches (100 to 110 mm) long. [5] Once the caterpillars reach maturity, they spin large brown cocoons longways on trees or wooden ...
When fully grown, the caterpillars leave the natal tree and seek protected places on the ground or under the eaves of buildings to spin their cocoons. About two weeks later, they emerge as adults. Shortly after eclosing from the cocoon, the female moth secretes a pheromone which draws males to her. Mating typically occurs in the early evening ...