The wattle bagworm (Kotochalia junodi, formerly Acanthopsyche junodi) is a species of moth in the family Psychidae. In southern Africa it is a pest of the black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) which is grown largely as a source of vegetable tannin. Kotochalia junodi is indigenous to Southern Africa, where it originally fed on indigenous relatives of the wattle. Like all members of the family Psychidae, the male larva develops into an adult in a mobile silken bag covered with materials such as thorns and twigs. Only once it is mature does it leave the bag to mate. The female never leaves her bag. In spring the eggs hatch in the bag in which the adult female had grown. Because the female never leaves the tree in which she grew and died, the insects need some other way to move to new trees or in general to disperse, and in fact the newly hatched (first-instar) larva is the dispersive stage of the wattle bagworm life cycle. The larva spins a silken thread on which it may float along on the breeze, much as some species of young spiderlings use gossamer for ballooning in their dispersive phase. Also, birds and probably other agencies may carry some larvae to suitable feeding sites. The young caterpillar does not feed for a day or two after hatching, but eventually, once the dispersive phase is completed, it begins to weave a conical bag of silk, incorporating fragments of plant material such as leaves, twigs and bark. The thorns and twigs covering the cocoon provide protection against enemies such as mantids. They also serve as camouflage that matches the tree from which the larva had stripped them. As it feeds and grows, it extends the size of the bag until it reaches some 55 mm in length and 18 mm in width and its outline becomes oval. The caterpillar hooks its anal prolegs into the silken lining of the bag. As it feeds and grows, the larva drags the bag wherever it goes until it is full grown and pupates. If alarmed, it shuts the opening by pulling in the slack in front. About February or March the larva is fully grown. It stops feeding, fastens its bag to the tree, and spins an inner lining within which it pupates. The males pupate in April or May and the females perhaps a month later. The winged male emerges