Cinnabar covered with bright red powder made from cinnabar. The most popularly known use of cinnabar is in Chinese carved lacquerware, a technique that apparently originated in the Song dynasty. The danger of mercury poisoning may be reduced in ancient lacquerware by entraining the powdered pigment in lacquer, but could still pose an environmental hazard if the pieces were accidentally destroyed. In the modern jewelry industry, the toxic pigment is replaced by a resin-based polymer that approximates the appearance of pigmented lacquer. Two female mummies dated A.D. 1399 to 1475 found in Cerro Esmeralda in Chile in 1976 had clothes colored
Cinnabar moth moult (instars) they mainly feed on the leaves and flowers of the plant, and can be seen out in the open during the day. Like several other Arctiidae larvae, cinnabar caterpillars can turn cannibalistic. This is mainly due to lack of food, but they can eat other cinnabar larvae. Initially, the larvae are pale yellow, but later larval stages develop the jet black and orange/yellow striped colouring. They can grow up to , and are voracious eaters; large populations can strip entire patches of ragwort clean, a result of their low predation. Often, very few survive to the pupal stage,