Dirce Beauty Butterfly

Is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family also called Zebra mosaic. The eggs are white and laid in groups of between 2 and 10 on leaves of the foodplant. The young caterpillars feed on Cecropia leaves and make "frass chains" i.e. chains of droppings linked together by strands of silk, which protrude from the edges of the leaves. When not feeding they rest on these frass chains, which provide them with a defence against certain marauding ant species which seem unwilling to step onto the silk strands.

The fully grown larvae are velvety black and adorned with white rosetted spines along the back, and yellow spines along the sides. They live and feed gregariously in groups of between 5 and 20. When feeding they bite through the stems, causing alleochemics ( anti-herbivore juices ) to bleed from the plant, stopping it from mobilising chemicals into the area being eaten.