Scotura leucophleps Warren

General comments: 

This information is based an ongoing project dedicated to the inventory and dissemination of information on lepidopteran larvae, their host plants, and their parasitoids in a Costa Rican tropical wet forest and an Ecuadorian montane cloud forest.

N=73 rearings as of 2012, 53 eclosed, 2 failed to eclose, 13 died, 5 were parasitized.

Larval morphology and behavior: 

Caterpillars of this species could be found feeding at any time of day although there seemed to be more feeding in the early mornings. They are leaf edge feeders and make a very characteristic feeding pattern as they only consume one side of a leaf, from the tip to the base and all the way to the midvein, then move to a different leaf to continue feeding. Later instars (3-5) will hide on the underside of a twig or leaf when they are not feeding.

Distribution: 

Collected in Heredia Province, Costa Rica.

Foodplant Associations: 

Violaceae: Rinorea deflexiflora

Parasitoid Associations: 

Braconidae (N=3).
Tachinidae (N=2). One tachinid species emerged from a larva and the other from a pupa.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith