The diet of Heliothis subflexa caterpillars consists entirely of fruit from plants of the genus Physalis  These fruit do not contain linolenic acid, which is necessary to the growth and maturation of many insects other than H  subflexa  Linolenic acid in an insect' s diet is also necessary for the production of a chemical called volicitin  While most caterpillar species have volicitin in their saliva, H
subflexa does not
No caterpillars other than H. subflexa eat fruit from plants of the genus Physalis.