OK, yes, the moths are colorful and no, I still don't like them. The only reason why I have these is because the female really was begging to get caught. When moth trapping in an exotic destination like Malawi it can be hard to resist the species that are outside the scope of this blog. There are plenty of other 'pretty' moths, but one has to have a theme. And even with the usual stuff I have plenty of things to breed, so I'm not actually looking to expand my horizon. I managed to resist the temptation fairly well, until the last night when this female came sitting on my knee while I was watching the light. The first time she did this I just took her and threw her on the sheet. Only, she flew back and installed herself on my knee again. After three times like this, I decided to take her home. Of course, none of the caterpillars died and now I'm stuck with them. They are not so small. The wingspan is somewhere around five centimeter. Lateritia occurs in a large part of Africa from Cameroon east to Kenya and basically everywhere south of the Cameroon/Kenya line. In captivity they brood continuously. I have no idea how their wild life cycle goes, but probably there will be multiple generations with interruptions during the dry season.
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| Metarctia lateritia - Origin: Malawi |
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| Metarctia lateritia - Origin: Malawi |
