Caterpillar of Euploea boisduvalii
I posted pics of this Caterpillars I found in Fiji to another forum for ID help.
Was surprised when told that this was a 'special' observation and he requested for more pics and full resolution pics to have a better look at them and make comparisons. He later posted his analysis/comparisons and mentioned that this is most likely Euploea boisduvalii by eliminating the other known species of Danaids recorded from there.
And if he is correct, then this could possibly be the first published photos of the caterpillar of this species! :)
This person has expertise in immature Butterflies (Caterpillars) and this is his observations :
According to my possibly dated references, the danaids reported for Viti Levu are:
* Danaus plexippus – LOOKS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT
* Euploea boisduvalii – MATCHES TEXTUAL DESCRIPTION
* Euploea leucostictos – LOOKS VERY DIFFERENT
* Euploea lewinii – PATTERNING SAME, BUT NOT COLOR & TUBERCLES, ON RAROTONGA (http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/showImage.asp... [http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/species.asp?id=9392])
* Euploea tulliolus – 3 PAIRS OF TUBERCLES
* Tirumala hamata – 2 PAIRS OF TUBERCLES
Thus, all considered, either Euploea boisduvalii (my vote; if correct, these being the first "published" photos) or the Fijian subspecies of E. lewinii.
''Euploea boisduvali'' , is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It was described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1852. It is found in the Australasian realm
comments (6)
I updated the observation with his comments/feedback/analysis. Posted 5 years ago