Silkmoths and more: Pachytrina honrathii

Can they get any more social then this? The caterpillars of the African Pachytrina honrathii are gregarious in all stages, staying closely together and even on top of each other while resting. It's a super easy species to rear. Keep them warm and in well ventilated plastic containers until they reach the fifth instar and then continue in spacious netted cages. Figuring out what food plant to use, wasn't complicated at all. I cheated a little. I knew that colleague Siegfried Ihle had reared them some years ago on Rosa, so I started with Rubus fruticosus for a couple of instars but when they grew larger I switched to wild roses (Rosa canina). Is this necessary and should you do this too? Of course not, you can continue with Rubus until they pupate. There are some rose bushes here with very few thorns which makes it just so much more pleasant for the fingers. The only other recorded food plant I could find is Ricinus, but I guess they are fairly polyphage. Just one warning though: they do not eat Prunus (serotina). Yep, tried that, didn't work. It's a very fast grower with a short pupal stage. The caterpillars reach a size of approximately nine to ten centimeter within six weeks. The pupal stage only last three weeks.