Life cycle of Tussar Silk Moth: Antheraea paphia (Linnaeus, 1758)

The tussar moth, Antheraea paphia, known as the South India small tussore, is a common moth species of the Saturniidae family found in India and Sri Lanka. It is one of the silkworm species that produces Tussar silk, a wild silk made from the products of wild saturniid silkworms instead of the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori). The names Antheraea paphia and Antheraea mylitta are synonymous, however some scientist prefer to use one over the other, as discussed in detail by Peigler & Naumann (2016).

Life cycle of Tussar Silk Moth: Adult female of Antheraea paphia moth

Classification:

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Subfamily:	Saturniinae
Tribe:	Saturniini
Genus:	Antheraea Linnaeus, 1758

Morphology:

Male: Adult male is reddish or yellowish in color. Costal brown and grey fascia of forewings reaching the apex. Hyaline and ocellated spots (eye-spots) are much larger than those of A. roylei. The submarginal line of the hind wings close to the margin. No marginal yellow line is seen.

Freshly emerged male of Antheraea paphia

Female: Females may be pinkish-brown or bright-yellowish fawn; their hyaline and ocellated spots are larger than the males. Their antennae are also feathery and quite distinct. The females have narrower bipectinate antennae compared to the males.

Freshly emerged female of Antheraea paphia

Antheraea paphia sexes: Comparison of the antennae

Adult moths have thick legs which they use to grip tightly onto the leaf surface

Head and legs of female moth

Host plants:

Larvae of this species have been seen feeding on Giant crepe-myrtle (Lagerstroemia speciosa), Badam (Terminalia catappa) and recently Behada (Terminalia bellirica). Early stages are more frequently seen post monsoon, from September to January.

Early stages:

Eggs: The eggs are flat disc shaped (with a ridge in center) and smooth in appearance.

Single isolated egg of Antheraea paphia

The female lays bunches of closely stuck eggs on the host plants. Newly emerged larvae are hairy and disperse as they grow in size. Over the next few instars they rapidly gain in size and the final instar lava is quite large as seen in the accompanying picture.Larvae are green colored with paired dorsal series of yellow humps. White lunulate spots on the fifth and sixth somites have purple borders, whereas a lateral yellow line from seventh somite ends in a dilated brown band on the anal somite. Spiracles are yellow.

Final instar caterpillar of Antheraea paphia

The cocoon is shaped like an egg and formed over the course of two days. On the outside its fury and soft, while on the inside exists a typical moth brownish grey colored, hard casing. The cocoons attached to the host plant by a silken peduncle and made frequently inside half folded leaf cover rather than completely in open.

Cocoon of Antheraea paphia moth found on Lagerstroemia speciosa

The cocoon stage lasts usually from 21 days to a month, in some cases in the wild, overwintering can be seen till the arrival of favorable weather. While emerging, the moth secrets chemicals to dissolve part of the cocoon to open it and emerges from within. Due to its large size (wingspan ~13 cm), they take up to 4-6 hours to be spread their wings completely, after which they can fly out at night.

Wingspan comparison of the female moth with INR 20 note

References:

1. Hampson, G. F. (1892). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume I. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.

2. Jolly, M. S., Sen, S. K., and Das, M. G. (1976). Silk from the forest. Unasylva 28(114) 20-23

3. Reddy, R. M. (2010). Conservation need of tropical tasar silk insect, Antheraea mylitta Drury (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) – Strategies and impact. Journal of Entomology 7(3), 152-159.

4. R.S. Peigler & S. Naumann (2016) What exactly is Antheraea paphia (Linnaeus, 1758)? (Lepidoptera, Saturnidae). Atalanta 47 (3/4): 500-520.

5. Information on Wild silkmoths: http://www.cdfd.org.in/wildsilkbase/info_moths.php

6. Antheraea paphia (Linnaeus, 1758) – South Indian Small Tussore. In Sondhi, S., Y. Sondhi, P. Roy and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 3.41. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.mothsofindia.org/antheraea-paphia

Red Pierrot Butterfly - Life Cycle

The first thing you notice when you see a Red Pierrot (Talicada nyseus) butterfly, is its wonderful colouration. With its Orange-white wings adorned with black spots, this low-flying butterfly is eye candy for sure. The Red Pierrot is a member of the Polyommatini (Blues) tribe of the Lycaenidae family (Gossamer-winged butterflies), the second-largest family of butterflies.

Life stages of the Red Pierrot butterfly

Classification:

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Lycaenidae

Genus: Talicada

Species: T. nyseus

Binomial name: Talicada nyseus (Guerin, 1843)

Subspecies in India

1. Talicada nyseus nyseus (Guérin-Méneville, 1843) – Indian Red Pierrot

2. Talicada nyseus khasiana Swinhoe, 1893 – Khasi Red Pierrot

Habit:

The butterfly is a low-flier and often takes short flights along the ground, perching often on branches or grass. Unlike most butterflies which flutter around large-bright flowers for nectar, the Red Pierrot is a shy garden dweller. It prefers grass lawns covered with wildflowers such as false daisies and spends most of its time near its host plant Kalanchoe (previously known as Bryophyllum). The upper side of the forewings is jet black and similarly, black hindwings have orange-yellow ovals which cover the lower half with borders decorated with white spots.

Red pierrot in flight

Host plants:

Bryophyllum is a group of plants from the family Crassulaceae native to Madagascar. It is a section or subgenus within the genus Kalanchoe and was formerly placed at the genus level. The plant Kalanchoe pinnata is also called as "Miracle plant or Leaf of life" due to its peculiar ability to grow small plants from leaves.

Life cycle:

Eggs:

The eggs are laid by a female on the underside of a leaf, one egg at a time. They are light green in colour ellipsoidal typical of the Lycaenidae family. The hatching time for eggs is 3-4 days.

Larva:

The larval stage is divided into 5 stages (Instars) extending from 2-2.5 weeks. Initial larvae are about 2 mm in size and green coloured. As they mature the colours turn yellowish and the head becomes distinguishable. Larvae usually feed on the inside of the leaves, mining their way between the upper and lower layers of the leaf.

Feeding caterpillar of Red pierrot butterfly

Deposits of frass and larvae feeding inside translucent leaves can be easily seen during development. When one leaf is finished they come out and start mining on a fresh leaf. In the later stages, the larval body becomes segmented and sideward black dots on the segments develop. In its final pre-pupation stage, the larva comes out of hiding (now appearing cream-coloured and stocky) and settles in open for pupation. The pupation takes one-two days to complete and the resulting pupa is yellow coloured with head and body compartments partially visible.

Pupa and eclosion:

The initial pupa is yellowish and slowly starts to turn dark near the wings as it matures. The pupal stage lasted 7-9 days. On the morning of eclosion, the pupa turns completely black and the butterfly emerges. The upperside black wings can be seen in this phase, it soon climbs for support and settles for an hour before taking flight.

Field Notes:

The Red Pierrots are most active from January to April and for a while around August. This is also the best time when they can be seen nectaring, mating and laying eggs in the early morning sun.

References:

1. Talicada nyseus https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talicada_nyseus

2. Talicada nyseus, The Red Pierrot butterfly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talicada_nyseus

3. Red Pierrot https://www.dilmahconservation.org/butterfly-garden/sri-lanka-butterfly/red-pierrot--52f61b2fd1e37e75f81eff5b0251a6d6.html

4. Venkata Ramana, Dr. S.P. (2018). Autecology of the Red pierrot butterfly Talicada nyseus (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera: Lycaenidae) from the Lankamala forest -Andhra Pradesh.

5. Talicada Moore, [1881] http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/lycaenidae/polyommatinae/talicada/

6. Nitin, R., Balakrishnan, V.C., Churi, P.V., Kalesh, S., Prakash, S. and Kunte, K. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 10, 4 (Apr. 2018), 11495–11550.