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River Birch Dagger Moth

Acronicta betulae

Description:

Small almost bluish fuzzy caterpillar with two red dots on it's head... pressed very closely to an oak leaf twig.

Habitat:

west central ga

Notes:

See more information on my other posting: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/15...

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2 Comments

momsavang
momsavang 5 years ago

Hey Lauren, very cool info! I took a look at all your references, but it looks like most of the species you mentioned are in the NE, very few spotted in the SE. Not 100% if it's a match, but good leads.

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 5 years ago

This might be a Lappet Moth Caterpillar of the Family Lasiocampidae. It is a little similar to one I found. Mine was big and looks very much like the reference for the genus Tolype. Mine was also fascinating because of the type of hairs it has that look more like feathers. I fed it for a few days until it pupated, which was also weird and fascinating. Unfortunately one of its own spines penetrated the pupal case and it leaked out all of it's body fluids. I never got to see the adult :(
See the larva: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/202...
See the pupa: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/497...
References: https://www.whatsthatbug.com/2015/07/04/...
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.ed...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolype_vel...

momsavang
Spotted by
momsavang

Cataula, Georgia, United States

Spotted on Aug 26, 2018
Submitted on Aug 26, 2018

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