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A Nawab Caterpillar?
Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Hello I’m came from Andorra la Vella (Between Spain and France). Today I discover a Caterpillar in a Flower, is this true? I attach photos about it
Luis Espinosa
Andorra la Vella

Bajá de Dos Colas Caterpillar

Hola Luis,
We tried finding information on the possibility that Nawabs, genus Polyura, might be found in the Mediterranean, but we had no luck.  Then we tried to search the family name and found the genus Charaxes on the ButterflyCorner.net website.   A butterfly called the Two Tailed Pasha was pictured.  Its range is described as “Afrotropic ecozone (Africa) and the Palaeartic ecozone (Europe). The distribution include whole Africa without the Sahel and the South of Europe (Spain, France, Italy and Greece).”  Sadly there were no images of the caterpillar, but we searched the species name and located what we believe to be your caterpillar, the Two Tailed Pasha, Charaxes jasius, which according to Wikipedia can be found in the Mediterranean.  Continued searching gave us the Wildside Holidays website that describes:  “The caterpillar can be up to 6cm in length. It is green with 4 very distinctive backward facing spikes on its head. They create a silk pad on a leaf and return to this after feeding.”  Finally, the common Spanish name for the butterfly is Bajá de Dos Colas. So, your presumption that this was a Nawab Caterpillar is quite close as the Nawab and the Pasha are closely related.

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