Silkmoths and more: Cleopatrina bilinea

I caught some females of this Lappet species in the Dzalanyama Forest in Malawi in December 2017. The eggs hatched in around twelve days, but the caterpillars took their time to grow. The first ones pupated mid April, the last one just this week. It may have been because of the rather poor quality of the food during our winter or my breeding conditions. I must admit, the bramble (Rubus fruticosus) was far from looking healthy, especially after some heavy frost in March. I did send some eggs to colleague Siegfried Ihle, who reared them on Rosa and Quercus. His pupated almost a month before mine. Actually, he already had the moths, while my last caterpillar still had to spin a cocoon. Below, you can see one picture of a caterpillar sitting on Crataegus. It was not more then that, sitting, they refused to eat this plant. I think because the leaves were still too fresh. These animals seem to prefer older and harder leaves. At the end of the sixth (and final) instar the larvae are between six and nine centimeter. There are two color forms. One is more orange brown with chestnut brown bristles, while the second is more grayish brown with more purple markings.