| The
female Yellow Jewel butterfly will lay her eggs only on the
underside of leaves of a few species of Pomaderris
shrubs. When the caterpillars hatch they will only feed on
these leaves and only on the underside, usually at night, dawn and
dusk.
Spending time underneath the leaf
helps to hide the caterpillar from would-be predators. In addition
the colouring and body hairs of the caterpillars match those of
the shrub almost perfectly, complete with a darker coloured
mid-vein along its back. When the caterpillar aligns itself
with the mid-vein of the leaf it becomes almost indistinguishable
from the leaf itself.
During the day the caterpillar will
spin a cocoon of bristly, silken hairs (underneath the leaf of
course) and hide there until dusk. Finally the caterpillar
will attach itself to the underside of the leaf with silk and turn
into a pale green chrysalis with fine white, hair-like markings.
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