Caterpillars & Parasitoids of a Costa Rican Tropical Wet Forest

Data from this page should be cited as follows:

Dyer, L.A. and G.L. Gentry. 2002. Caterpillars and parasitoids of a tropical lowland wet forest. http://www.caterpillars.org. Accessed: (date accessed).

Updates to this page are made daily

Caterpillars and Parasitoids of a Costa Rican Tropical Wet Forest is an ongoing project dedicated to the inventory and dissemination of information on lepidopteran larvae, their host plants, and their parasitoids. Live caterpillar specimens are collected and reared at La Selva Biological Station. The host plant, pupation and emergence dates, size and weight are recorded, along with information about associated parasitiods.

Project goals:

• Collect new species of Lepidoptera, and associated parasitoid Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Nemata.
• Record and archive baseline natural history information such as host plant-herbivore-parasitoid relationships, development rates, and other life cycle information.
• Disseminate this information with a state of the art, searchable database accessible to scientists all over the world.
• Provide the foundations for a key to the caterpillars of La Selva.