About Gastropacha pardale
Gastropacha pardale has red-brown head and thorax, with a dark stripe on the vertex. The abdomen is pale reddish brown. Its pale ochreous-brown forewings are narrow and long, with a rounded outer margin. Four indistinct, waved, suffused dark lines mark the forewings, and a black speck sits at the end of the cell. Hindwings are ochreous or red brown, with three indistinct waved lines in the inner area, and a large ochreous patch below the costa. Palpi are slender, very long, and black. Antennae are pectinate, or comb-like. Legs have minute spurs. The species is sexually dimorphic: females lack the ochreous patch on the hindwing.
The caterpillar of Gastropacha pardale is a voracious leaf-eater that feeds on species of Cinnamomum camphora, Mangifera, Erythrina, Albizia, Camellia, Crataegus, and Pyracantha. Mature larvae reach approximately 7 cm in length. They are dull brown, with creamy tufts of hairs along the sides. The life cycle of this moth lasts 38 to 51 days, and typically occurs between September and October.
This species is distributed across South Asian countries including India and Sri Lanka, extending through the Russian Far East, China, and Hong Kong, to Southeast Asian Indonesia, and into parts of the Middle East.
