Diet

• Gymnelia belongs to the subfamily Arctiinae, a group whose caterpillars generally feed on leaves of a wide variety of plants.

• Available host records indicate that species of Gymnelia are associated with broad-leaved plants rather than having a single known, genus-wide host plant.

Habitat

• The genus is primarily Neotropical, with species occurring in tropical forest and other warm, vegetated habitats.

• Caterpillars are expected to occur in forest, forest edges and secondary vegetation where suitable larval food plants are present.

• Species of Gymnelia have been recorded from Mexico, Central America and much of South America, with particularly numerous records from tropical regions.

Description

• The caterpillars of Gymnelia are moth larvae in the subfamily Arctiinae and are generally hairy or covered with fine setae.

• Their precise appearance varies among species, but larvae in this group commonly have contrasting body markings and conspicuous hair tufts arising from small tubercles.

• Detailed descriptions of the mature caterpillars are available for relatively few Gymnelia species, so a single distinctive larval appearance cannot be applied reliably to the entire genus.

• Gymnelia is currently placed within the tiger-moth lineage of Arctiinae.