BetweenOctober2007andMarch2008,Icarriedoutfieldobservations and a semi-controlled pilot experiment to become familiar withthe biological and phenological aspects of U. maorialis. In my observations,I noticed that U. maorialis last instar larvae tend to abandon their hostplants before pupating, and, thus, it is common to see larvae crawling awayfrom their host plants. I was interested in knowing how far from its host plant a larva could go before pupating. To that end, I carried out measuresin controlled and semi-controlled conditions to evaluate the distance towhich a larva could move away from its host plant to pupate. Myobservations indicate that larvae can move a wide range of distances, from afew centimetres to several meters, away from their hostplants.