About Agarista agricola (Donovan, 1805)
Agarista agricola caterpillars can grow up to 7 centimeters long. Early-instar caterpillars are green and brown, with sparse, spiky-shaped hairs. As they mature, they develop orange heads and orange feet, and their bodies are predominantly banded in black and white, with two additional orange bands: one on the final abdominal segment, and one on the mesothorax. The sparse hairs of mature caterpillars become club-shaped with white tips. Before pupation, all of the caterpillar's white bands turn orange. Caterpillars pupate on branches inside cocoons covered with chewed pieces of bark. Adult A. agricola moths are diurnal, and have black wings marked with yellow, red, white and blue patterns. This species is sexually dimorphic: males are smaller than females, and have a smaller white patch at the base of the forewings. Male wingspan is approximately 5 centimeters, while female wingspan reaches around 7 centimeters. This species is distributed in Papua New Guinea and Australia, where it occurs in Queensland, the Northern Territory, New South Wales, and Victoria. A. agricola caterpillars feed on the vines of multiple species in the plant family Vitaceae, including Cissus opaca, Cayratia clematidea, and Vitis vinifera.
