The lackey moth (''Malacosoma neustria'') is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Lasiocampidae The Lasiocampidae are a family of moths also known as eggars, tent caterpillars, snout moths (although this also refers to the Pyralidae), or lappet moths. Over 2,000 species occur worldwide, and probably not all have been named or studied. It i ...

. It was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It is common across southern

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and central Europe. ''

Malacosoma ''Malacosoma'' is a genus of moths in the family Lasiocampidae first described by Jacob Hübner in 1820. Species *'' Malacosoma alpicolum'' (Staudinger, 1870) *'' Malacosoma americanum'' (Fabricius, 1793) *''Malacosoma californicum'' (Packard, 1 ...

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 ...

are notable for their caterpillars which are brightly coloured and form silken tents to regulate their temperature. ''Malacosoma neustria'' caterpillars are brown with blue, orange and white stripes. The adults are a fairly uniform brown. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e feed mainly on trees and shrubs from within their tents.

Subspecies

*''Malacosoma neustria neustria'' *''Malacosoma neustria flavescens'' Grünberg, 1912 (Morocco, Algeria) *''Malacosoma neustria formosana'' Matsumura, 1932 (Taiwan)

Distribution and habitat

The lackey moth is widely distributed across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Its habitat is the edges of woodland, bushy grassland,

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

s, hedgerows and road verges. The caterpillar's food plants include

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

, plum,

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English name ''hornbeam ...

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

and

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 ...

Life cycle

Eggs of the lackey moth are laid in ring-like bands in late summer on twigs of the host trees where they overwinter. On hatching, the larvae are

gregarious Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...

and weave for themselves a silken canopy of webbing. They eat the young foliage of the tree and moult several times as they grow larger. When ready to

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 they drop to the ground and undergo metamorphosis, each forming a pupa sandwiched between leaves of plants growing beneath the tree. In both Britain and Germany the flight period is from June to August. Malacosoma neustria Caterpillar.jpg, Caterpillar, Ermingen,

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

, Germany Malacosoma neustria eggs.jpg, Eggs

References

External links

*
''Lepiforum e.V.''
{{Taxonbar , from=Q30685 Malacosoma Moths described in 1758 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus