Dysstroma citrata

Dark Marbled Carpet

The caterpillar illustrated was found on the underside of a leaf of the Himalayan Bramble Rubus discolor, where it spent most of its time, rarely venturing to the upper side. Indeed, the caterpillar appeared to be rather bashful, and often rested in the "bashful" mode evident in one of the photographs. Although this habit is not quite unique to the genus, it can be used as a first guess for identification. I have also found the caterpillar on the underside of the leaves of Stinging Nettle. Caterpillars found in early April have metamorphosed to moths by late May. The moth occurs in Europe as well as in North America.