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Saturday, December 1, 2018

Banana skipper caterpillar, Erionota thrax

I saw there is more folded part in pisang lemak manis leaves yesterday evening, while checking the plants outside lab area.
When closer and further inspection is done, I saw a huge plump banana skipper caterpillar inside the folded banana leaves.
Can see here how the banana skipper munching away the pisang lemak manis leaf.



Picking up the infested banana leaves.
Put the banana caterpillar under tree that have lots of weaver ants (kerengga) for their food [2].
Other video of the banana skipper caterpillar on action:
Clearer munching sound.
Can see the banana skipper caterpillar looking for its munching line on the banana leaf.

Erionota thrax, the palm redeye or the banana skipper, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. The larvae feed on the leaves of Musa species, especially Musa textilis. It has also been recorded on Cocos nucifera and other palm species. The rolls in banana leaves that E. thrax larvae create when feeding have been used as overwintering shelters for wasp species Polistes japonicus in Okinawa, Japan [1].


References: 
[1] Banana skipper from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erionota_thrax
[2] Weaver ants (kerenggahttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weaver_ant

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