It feeds only on oleander, a plant poisonous to most animals. There are three generations a year. Cabbage palm caterpillar, Litoprosopus futilis . These larvae are associated with the flower stalks of cabbage palm. The larvae may so damage the flower that the honey crop is reduced.
Mature larvae are purplish brown with numerous black spots from which the hairs emerge.
They migrate from the plant to pupate and may enter houses, cutting through fiberglass screens. Development is synchronized with the flowering period of the palm. Palm leafskeletonizer, Homaledra sabalella . The palm leafskeletonizer is detected by tiny, brown fecal pellets incorporated in a silk web on the palm fronds. These pellets look like fine sawdust and re found on the underside of leaves or where they have been woven together.