Red slug caterpillar (Eterusia aedea)

Latin Name	Observation Date	Location
Eterusia aedea	Jun 06, 2026	Purulia, Natore, Bangladesh

A great subject for macro photography is the larvae of various types of moths or butterflies. One such moth that is easily seen in the nature around us is the 'Red slug caterpillar'. It is basically the larval stage of a moth, which is quite attractive to look at, but it is a familiar name to farmers.

​Scientific name:
In the scientific world, the scientific name of this moth is Eterusia aedea. In 1763, the famous scientist Carl Linnaeus first described it in his book 'Centuria Insectorum'. There are many subspecies and equivalent scientific names or synonyms of this species of moth, among which Papilio aedea or Heterusia aedea are quite well known.

Family and Genus:
It is a moth of the order Lepidoptera under the vast phylum Arthropoda and class Insecta. In terms of classification, they are members of the family Zygaenidae and their genus or genus name is Eterusia.
​Size and physical structure
The adult moth is very beautiful to look at. When their wings are spread, the width of the male moth is about 50 millimeters and the width of the female moth is about 56 millimeters. Their body is quite narrow and elongated. The front wings are usually dark green in color, and the hind wings have a large section of black. The two initial segments of their abdomen are black in color. On the other hand, their larvae or caterpillars are bright orange-red to dark reddish-pink in color. They often have dark or pale spots on their bodies, which act as a warning to other predators in nature.

​Habitat and habitat:
This species of moth is mainly found in large numbers in various countries of South and Southeast Asia. They are also found in the nature of India, Nepal, China, Japan, Taiwan and our country Bangladesh. The subspecies Eterusia aedea aedea lives the most in Bangladesh and India. They usually prefer to live in tea gardens or around various deciduous trees.

​Food:
Although adult moths usually live by drinking flower nectar, their larvae are completely vegetarian and they eat leaves of plants. Their larvae like the leaves of tea trees, Camellia and Rhododendron. They also feed on the leaves of various other wild plants.

​Reproduction:
Like other common moths, their life cycle is cyclical. The female moth lays eggs on the leaves of a suitable host plant. The eggs hatch and the larvae or red slug caterpillars emerge very quickly and start eating the leaves of the plant. It is during this larval stage that they eat the most food and grow rapidly. Then they enter the pupal stage and finally spread their wings as beautiful full-fledged moths and fly around in nature.

​Benefits:
These moths and their larvae have a natural role in the food chain of the environment. They act as food for other birds or predatory insects in nature, which helps to maintain the balance of the ecosystem. In addition, their full-fledged moths also play a role in pollination when they roam around the flowers.

​Harmfulness:
This moth is best known for its destructive appearance. The red slug caterpillar is considered a well-known and deadly agricultural pest. They start eating from the underside of the leaves of mature plants. If their attack is severe in an area, they can eat all the leaves of an entire tree, completely defoliating the tree, and even destroy the bark of the tree. Especially in tea gardens, their attack can cause extensive damage to crops. Therefore, in agriculture, physical or chemical methods are often used to control them. To protect themselves, their caterpillars secrete a foul-smelling liquid from their chests when they are scared, which helps to keep predators away.

I hope you like the pictures and information.

I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.

(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)
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Camera Used	Samsung SM-G973F
F-Stop	F2.4
ISO speed	ISO
Focal length	26mm
Flash	No
Editing app	default
Photography	Red slug caterpillar (Eterusia aedea)
Photographer	@mshbd
Location	Purulia, Natore, Bangladesh

Link to original community
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/368970549

Latitude	Longitude	Map Link
24.3366	89.1117	https://www.openstreetmap.org/?#map=12/24.3366/89.1117