Cinnabar (Tyra jacobaea)

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Wing Span 1 3/4 " ( 45mm )

This handsome red and black moth is a member of the Tiger moth Family it gets its name from the red patches on its fore wings, the colour of Vermilion or cinnabar pigment. The colouration warns it is most poisonous, inedible to most insect eating creatures. The distastefulness begins earlly in lifethe Cinnabar caterpillars , shown, are brughtly banded in orange and black and active in July and August eating Ragwort and groundsel;, both of which contain poisons that do not harm the caterpillar but make them unpleasnat to eat

 

 

Catrerpillars on Ragwort ( Senecio jacobea)