Eudocima phalonia

Hi everyone, Have you ever met this caterpillar? Eudocima phalonia or better known as "piercing fruit moth" is a type of caterpillar that turns into a beautiful butterfly and attracts the attention of many people because of its wings which have beautiful and amazing colors, this caterpillar is usually easy for you to find them on cultivated plants because in general these caterpillars hunt for young leaves to eat.

where we live Eudocima phalonia is known as a pest on fruit crops, Eudocima phalonia has a unique behavior pattern, although its presence is often detrimental to farmers, this caterpillar has an important role in the ecosystem as part of the ecosystem, and after going through a long process this caterpillar will turn into beautiful butterflies and have a special role in the plant pollination process, so even though these caterpillars are a problem that is detrimental to farmers, there are times when they provide positive value, namely when the caterpillars have become beautiful butterflies.

It can be understood that, Eudocima phalonia is an important part of the ecosystem in which they live, as predators of certain plants but they help control the population growth of their host plants, thus preventing excessive damage to ornamental and agricultural plants, but still as often happens with pests, when the population of these caterpillars becomes larger they can cause large economic losses for farmers, so controlling the population of these caterpillars is very important, but we still have to protect their natural habitat so that the food chain for some predators does not decrease.

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| - | https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/214771075