BREAKING NEWS! Banana leaf roller caterpillar/ pupa when unrolled from the rolled leaf at CUBE Locality Lab, Maddel, Thivim, Goa 28 Oct 2019 photo: mcarunan
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This is great! @Arunan. This could probably be a butterfly, Banana Skipper, Erionota torus Evans, 1941 commonly called Rounded Palm-eye. The ifoundbutterflies.org website mentions this species to be found in North-East and in western India it has been recorded in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. It would be great to notify the website maintaining personnel, (Krushnamegh Kunte among them) about the species existence in Goa. Please keep track of the adult eclosion.
Apart from banana, this butterfly larvae are also known to feed on palms (coconut leaves).
Another interesting aspect which Arunan mentions is the way pupa is rolled inside the banana leaf without damaging the leaves.
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