''Anisota virginiensis'', the pink-striped oakworm moth, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

silk moth The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

of the family

Saturniidae Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and gi ...

Description

The female's wings are purplish red with ochre-yellow. They have thin scales and are almost transparent. The male's wings are purplish brown with a large transparent space in the middle. The female is larger than the male. The

wing span The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 4.2 to 6.6 centimeters.

Habitat

The moth can be found across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

to southeastern

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, and in the United States. It lives in

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

woodlands and suburbs.

Biology

Females release a pheromone which attracts males that swarm around her like bees. Mating occurs during the morning. It is a rapid process. The male and female stay together for the rest of the day and then the female finds a place to lay eggs, usually under

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

leaves. Such mating swarms have been observed at carrion, where host plants may be higher quality due to the influx of nutrients associated with decomposition. The caterpillars are gray or greenish with dull brownish yellow or rosy stripes. There are scales on each segment and two long spines on the

mesothorax The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum (ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) on ...

. The caterpillars

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

te for a short time. They feed on the

foliage A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, s ...

of oak trees,

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

es, and hazels. The caterpillar

overwinters Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activ ...

in the soil as a pupa. Caterpillars that are newly hatched or are in the middle of growing feed in groups while those that are mature or nearly so feed separately. The caterpillar is about an eighth of an inch long. The head is large in proportion to the body. The inside of the mouth is yellow. The legs are semi-translucent.

Ecology

Conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

regimes are not required for this species. It is considered a pest of forests because it defoliates trees. Outbreaks can be treated with an arsenical spray.

Life cycle gallery

File:Anisota virginiensis mating.jpg, Mating File:Anisota virginiensis eggs.jpg, Eggs File:Anisota virginiensis larvae feeding.jpg, Larvae feeding on ''

Quercus texana ''Quercus texana'', commonly known as Nuttall's oak, is a fast-growing, large deciduous oak tree. It is a tree growing up to 25 meters (83 feet) tall, with dark brown Bark (botany), bark. It has leaves with sharp pointed lobes somewhat similar ...

'' File:Anisota virginiensis larva2.jpg, Larva File:Anisota virginiensis pupa.jpg, Pupa

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2331755 Ceratocampinae Moths described in 1773 Moths of North America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus