Silkmoths and more: Nudaurelia macrothyris

It's always more fun to rear something that you've caught yourself. The caterpillars in this post are the offspring of a female that came to the light in the Dzalanyama Forest. In Malawi, this large species is fairly common and I saw dozens of them each night. In captivity however, this one is rarely seen. The rearing of this species is not as easy as for many other members in the genus. It already starts with their choice of food. Contrary to many other Nudaurelia, macrothyris does not accept Prunus laurocerasus. That's inconvenient, I know, especially because the most likely time of the year you will be able to obtain some livestock is during our winter when not that much else is available. The good news is that they will accept Ligustrum. It's not their favorite and when using this plant, growth will be slow (up to two and a half month) and mortality will be high (although there might be other reasons for that then just the type and quality of the food - winter is never a good time for rearing insects). Older caterpillars (L4) will switch to Ilex as well. Keep them as warm as possible. Even though this species flies at the beginning of the rainy season, I do not recommend spraying the animals. The combination of not warm enough temperatures, not enough ventilation during cold days and too high humidity is a good recepie for the development of all kinds of nasty diseases that will get your animals killed.