Eutachyptera Explained

Eutachyptera is a monotypic moth genus in the family Lasiocampidae. The genus was erected by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1912.[1] Its single species, Eutachyptera psidii, was first described by Sallé in 1857. It is found in Mexico.[2]

Behaviour

The caterpillars feed on the leaves of guava (Psidium sp.) and oak. They live communally in large silken nests, which can extend to 50cm (20inches) or more in length.[3] [4] [5] They remain in the nests by day and leave at night to feed, laying a trail of pheromones to help them and their nest-mates navigate to and from feeding areas.[6]

Unusually among caterpillars, E. psidii larvae can remain active for as long as 18 days with no food, which they may have to do when their host trees lose their leaves in winter.[7]

Use of larvae and silk

The larvae are among the caterpillars traded and eaten in Mexico.[8]

The silk nests were used by the Aztecs, Mixtecs and Zapotecs to make a paper-like fabric, which was a commercial item at the time of Moctezuma.[9] Later, the Mixtec and other communities in Oaxaca extracted the silk fibres from the nests[10] and wove them into sashes. This practise had ceased by 1997.[11]

Synonyms

The US National Center for Biotechnology Information lists the following synonyms for E. psidii:[12]

Notes and References

  1. http://nomen.at/Eutachyptera Eutachyptera - Nomen.at - animals and plants
  2. Web site: Savela . Markku . Eutachyptera Barnes & McDunnough, 1912 . Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms . September 13, 2018.
  3. Web site: Eutachyptera. facultyweb.cortland.edu. 2020-01-17.
  4. Book: Fitzgerald, Terrence D.. The Tent Caterpillars. 2019-06-07. Cornell University Press. 978-1-5017-3457-1. 148. en. E. psidii makes tents up to 80cm long ... the tent is reported to be one of the sources of the silk used by the indigenous Indians of Central America.
  5. Peigler. Richard S.. 1993-07-01. Wild Silks of the World. American Entomologist. en. 39. 3. 151–162. 10.1093/ae/39.3.151. 1046-2821. Large nests can be more than a meter long, but they average less than half that size ... most authors consider that G. psidii was the main source of silk in the commerce of the ancient Mexicans before and during the time of Moctezuma.. subscription.
  6. Fitzgerald. Terrence. Pescador-Rubio. Alfonso. 2011-09-01. Trail Marking and Abandonment of Depleted Feeding Sites by the Caterpillars of Eutachyptera psidii (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae). Journal of Insect Behavior. 24. 5. 380–392. 10.1007/s10905-011-9263-y. 31816341.
  7. Fitzgerald. Terrence D.. Pescador‐Rubio. Alfonso. Isaacs. Gary. 2008. Foraging behaviour of the social caterpillar Eutachyptera psidii (Sallé) (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae) during a prolonged period of food and water deprivation. Ecological Entomology. en. 33. 6. 727–734. 10.1111/j.1365-2311.2008.01025.x. 83865109. 1365-2311. subscription.
  8. Camacho. Víctor HM. Edible Lepidoptera in Mexico: Geographic distribution, ethnicity, economic and nutritional importance for rural people. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 2011. 7. 2. 10.1186/1746-4269-7-2. 21211040. 3034662. free .
  9. Book: Hogue, Charles Leonard. Latin American insects and entomology. 1993. University of California Press. 978-0520078499. Berkeley. 328. en. 25164105. Aztec artisans cut up the large sacs, piecing together the resulting swatches into larger pieces of "fabric.".
  10. Book: Borah, Woodrow Wilson. Silk Raising in Colonial Mexico. 1943. University of California Press. 114. en.
  11. Book: de Avila, Alejandro. The Unbroken Thread: Conserving the Textile Traditions of Oaxaca. The Getty Conservation Institute. 1997. Klein. Kathryn. Los Angeles. 125.
  12. Web site: Taxonomy Browser. taxonomy. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. 2018-09-25.

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