Cryptoses choloepi

Cryptoses choloepi is a sloth moth in the snout moth family that as an adult lives exclusively in the fur of sloths, mammals found in South and Central America. Adult female moths live in the fur of the brown three-toed sloth Bradypus variegatus infuscatus and leave the fur of the sloth to lay eggs in the sloth droppings when the sloth descends, once a week, to the forest floor to defecate. The larvae of Cryptoses choloepi live in the dung and newly emerged moths later fly from the dung pile into the forest canopy to find a host sloth. In the early larval stages of Cryptoses, there are silken threads spun between two and three pellets, in which they form "nets" where they feed from.

Cryptoses choloepi

Cryptoses choloepi is a sloth moth in the snout moth family that as an adult lives exclusively in the fur of sloths, mammals found in South and Central America. Adult female moths live in the fur of the brown three-toed sloth Bradypus variegatus infuscatus and leave the fur of the sloth to lay eggs in the sloth droppings when the sloth descends, once a week, to the forest floor to defecate. The larvae of Cryptoses choloepi live in the dung and newly emerged moths later fly from the dung pile into the forest canopy to find a host sloth. In the early larval stages of Cryptoses, there are silken threads spun between two and three pellets, in which they form "nets" where they feed from.