I must admit, when S.I. asked me if I wanted to rear Dendrolimus kikuchii I had no idea what species he was talking about. Never heard of them. After some basic research I learned that there actually is a kikuchii and that it was already described in 1927 by Matsumura. This Dendrolimus occurs in south and eastern China, (north) Vietnam and apparently also Laos (the moths in these pictures are from Phu Khun (Louang Prabang)). They seem to brood continuously (at least in captivity) with a pupal stage in between three and four weeks. The insanely beautiful caterpillars will be in my next post.
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| Dendrolimus kikuchii male - Origin: Laos |
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| Dendrolimus kikuchii female - Origin: Laos |
