Sent when ready in May or June, but sometimes later. Mittrei is a moth that simply takes the breath away. Confined exclusively to Madagascar, where its larvae feed on local species of eugenia, it provides the experienced breeder with a unique and fascinating challenge. In its penultimate instar the larvae is as large as many other full-fed saturniidae and it will 'graze' for over two months before spinning its huge, lattice style silvery-white cocoon - so designed to allow the rain to pass through. Although very difficult to achieve natural pairings, we are now breeding this species regularly at HEB via the hand-pairing technique. Feed the larvae on eucalyptus gunni for best results.
Larval foodplants: eucalyptus (gunni), sumach (rhus), sweetgum (liquidamber) and a few others.
Rearing: plastic boxes, heated vivariums and cages in the latter stages. Difficult species, but plastic boxes and eucalyptus gunni provide good results.
Photographs: 1st instar larvae; 3rd instar larvae; 4th instar larvae; 5th instar larvae; adult female moth at rest.
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzIlbX1d-ao
