Central Nightfighter

Life history. The ovum (Figure 9.1 – 2) is typical of the genus. Caterpillars were difficult to find as the early instars make shelters on the side of the leaf near the tip and feed near the apex of the leaf; if you were looking for the usual shelter of on the side of a leaf, e. g. A. erinnys (Figure 25), you would overlook them. The final instar caterpillar (Figure 9.3 – 6) has the head orange-brown, with a black central spot across the dorsal adfrontals and adjacent epicranium; this is surrounded by an irregular yellow halo, which is absent along the epicranial suture and on the frons, but extends alongside the epicranial suture, and ventrally on the adfrontals and then laterally to the stemmata, which are not dark. The caterpillar is unique in the genus, as far as we know, in that the anal segments carry a pair of dark spots (Figure 9.6), possibly false eye spots to deter predators. The pupa (Figure 9.7 – 8) is pale, with dark markings on the eyes and dorsally on the head between the eyes.