Classification: | Phylum: Arthropoda | Class: Insecta | Order: Lepidoptera | Family: Erebidae | Genus: Dasychira |

Both the caterpillar and the moth above were the same individual. The caterpillar landed on my potted plant in July 2020 and it eventually transformed into the moth. The pictures below showed the cocoon of the caterpillar and the eggs laid by the moth as well as the hatched young caterpillars.

Two years later in August 2022, I spotted another lone caterpillar of the moth at my potted area on a Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra) plant. The 2 pictures below showed the same caterpillar one day apart. The one on the left had transformed overnight to the one on the right. The shed skin could still be seen by the side of the transformed caterpillar.

Two days later, I can still see the caterpillar roaming on the plant. Unfortunately, these were the last few pictures of the caterpillar. The next day, it was killed by the Ghost Ant (Tapinoma melanocephalum).

In March 2023, I spotted another lone hairy caterpillar of this moth on a Field Copperleaf (Acalypha arvensis) plant in my pot. It fed on the leaves of this plant for at least 2 weeks and underwent several moltings in between. Fortunately, this plant was matured enough to have sufficient quantity of leaves to cater for the consumption by the caterpillar. While there was a leafy white-flower Chinese Motherwort (Leonurus japonicus) plant growing in the same pot next to the Field Copperleaf plant, the caterpillar did not consume any of its leaf although it did take rest on this plant on some days.

At first, there were small reddish structures on 2 of the segments located near the distal end of the caterpillar. The pattern in this area resembled the face of a bear when viewed from the top (left picture below). As the caterpillar grew over the next few days, the reddish structures appeared in a third segment and the bear-face pattern disappeared right picture below).

Three days later on 6 April 2023, the caterpillar selected a leaf where it planned to weave it cocoon. It pull together a total of 3 other leaves to complete the task on the next day. Based on past observation, it is going to take about 14 days for the moth to emerge.

Unfortunately, the cocoon was attack by a parasitoid wasp (Brachymeria species). While I did not see the parasitoid wasp landed on the cocoon, I did saw one on a leaf next to the cocoon on 12 April (left picture below). The confirmation of the egg laying by this wasp in the cocoon was affirmed when I saw 5 of the wasps emerged from the cocoon on 26 April (one of them shown in the right picture below).

Apparently, this species of moth is relatively common in Singapore judging from the 113 observations submitted in the iNaturalist website when viewed on 26 April 2023. When I wrote a post of the original sighting on the egg-laying moth back in 27 September 2020, there were only 13 observations reported in the iNaturalist website.