Mournful Desmia Moth Caterpillar

On a recent walk through the Settler's Garden, we noticed some bundles of leaves on the Shiny Leaf Wild Coffee (Psychotria nervosa) that were about the size of cigars and appeared to be tied together with bits of silk. Of course, we just had to open these up and see who was hanging out inside.

Inside the bundles we found mounds of frass (the fancy word for caterpillar poop), and inside a particularly large set of wrapped leaves we found a glossy and wet looking caterpillar. It took some real searching to make an identification on this species, but we found it based on the plant that it was eating.

The Mournful Desmia Moth (Desmia ploralis) falls into the rather broad category of moth species that we refer to en masse as PBMs or, Plain Brown Moths. They are small and not the type of insect that stands out in any way. If you'd like to see what the adult looks like, you can find a number of pictures of the brown moth with white markings at Bug Guide.

What's In a Name?

The species was identified by the french lawyer and entomologist Achille Guenée (1809 - 1880) in 1854.

The genus name Desmia derives from the Greek word Desma that can mean both a pledge, bond or a binding oath. This likely refers to the curious and tightly gathered leaf structures that are constructed by the larva of this moth genus.

As for the specific epithet, ploralis, I could not discover any more information on the etymology of the name. If you know more about this, feel free to drop me a line.