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8038 – Composia fidelissima,
Faithful Beauty Moth
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Freshly emerged female
Egg with Trichogramma parasites
Final instar head capsule
Freshly emerged male
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Species Pages
eggs
Final instar larva
Devil's claw - larval host
Freshly emerged male
Freshly emerged male
3rd instar larva
Pupa
Final instar larva
Pupa
Freshly emerged male
Freshly emerged male
When disturbed, a fowl tasting foam is emitted from a gland in the thorax to deter predators
Freshly emerged male
Freshly emerged female
egg clusters showing developement
egg clusters showing developement
Mating Pair
General Species Information
Host Plant: Devil's Potato - Echites umbellata - Apocynaceae, Baybean (Canavalia rosea)
Historical Range: South Florida and Cuba
Our Experience with this Species: We have found the "faithful beauty" at lights in Key Largo in the following months; Oct, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar. Back in 1999, Leroy Koehn and I found larvae on Big Pine Key but no adults have shown up in the survey
Notes: This certainly is one of South Florida's most spectacular Lepidopteran species. Adults fly during the day (mostly in the late afternoon or evenings). They frequent pine flats and hardwood hammocks where devils claw vines grows. Larvae are equally impressive and are quite easy to find. This species can easily be reared on oleander. Enclosed females also readily lay eggs. Larvae are highly gregareous in early instars but become solitary in later instars as the host vine is often quickly defoliated by a larval cluster. Later instar larvae wonder off the vine in seacrch of nearby plants that hold leaves. There have been times when searching for these larvae where all host plant foliage in a given area is totally defoliated leaving larvae to wander around in search of food. This species is more common on the southern Florida mainland than it is on Key Largo.
Distribution Chart
K. Largo Marath. Ba. Hond B.P.K. No Name Sck. Isd. K. West
Colored box indicates adult of this species has been confirmed on that island
Adult Flight Chart
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Colored box indicates adult of this species has been confirmed in that month
References
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