Diet

• The caterpillars of Diphthera festiva are highly polyphagous and feed on plants in numerous families.

• The larvae have also been recorded feeding on pecan, sweet potato, coconut and several other trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.

• Caterpillars often feed gregariously, particularly when young, and can consume substantial amounts of foliage when locally abundant.

Habitat

• It occurs in tropical dry forest, woodland edges, scrub, fields, pastures, roadsides and other disturbed habitats where suitable host plants grow.

• In dry tropical regions, the larvae can be found on shrubs and herbaceous plants in open vegetation and along forest margins.

• It is also capable of occupying agricultural habitats, particularly where suitable larval host plants are present.

Description

• The caterpillar is conspicuously patterned, with a pale cream to whitish body crossed by broad black transverse bands and an orangish-red head.

• The contrasting larval pattern is considered aposematic and may provide protection by warning predators of chemical defences acquired from host plants.