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Project Noah Nature School
Hyphantria cunea
Adult: wings either all white (in northern and some southern individuals) or sparsely to heavily marked with dark grayish-brown to black spots (in many southern individuals); spots rectangular or wedge-shaped, arranged loosely in rows in basal half of wing, and in either a V-shape or more-or-less random arrangement in distal half; ventral side of prothorax and femur of foreleg with orange hairs; hindwing either all white or with one or two black spots; Hodges 8140
Range is entire United States and southern Canada plus northern Mexico; accidentally introduced from North America to Yugoslavia in the 1940s, and has since spread throughout Europe; later introduced to northern China and North Korea. Weblike tents in branch tips where clusters of caterpillars strip foliage (by contrast, eastern tent caterpillar nests are built in tree crotches); adults are nocturnal and attracted to light. This one was photographed in Edgefield County, SC.
Adults fly from May to July in the north; March to August in the south (or all year in Florida). Caterpillars are found June to September or October in the north; May to October in the south. Larva are most often noticed when they reach final instar and wander out of their home trees to find a place to pupate.
Spotted on Mar 1, 2012
Submitted on Mar 23, 2013
2 Comments
This is great! That means here in PA, it will not be too long before I see some moth action. Excellent. Still very cold here.
I've seen the larva of this, but never the moth. Nice!