''Malacosoma castrense'' (or ''Malacosoma castrensis''), the ground lackey, 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 ...

of 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 is a

tent caterpillar Tent caterpillars are moderately sized caterpillars, or moth larvae, belonging to the genus ''Malacosoma'' in the family Lasiocampidae. Twenty-six species have been described, six of which occur in North America and the rest in Eurasia. Some sp ...

found in Europe. The species was first described by

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

in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. The moth's habitats are salt marshes and estuaries.

Distribution and habitat

The habitat is salt marsh and estuary. It is not particularly common due to this specialist habitat, but neither is it a threatened species.

Life cycle and behaviour

Eggs are laid in rings around plant stalks, and can survive immersion in salt water. The blue-grey larvae feed on various shrubs and herbaceous plants such as heather,

cypress spurge ''Euphorbia cyparissias'', the cypress spurge, is a species of plant in the genus ''Euphorbia''. It is native to Europe and was introduced to North America in the 1860s as an ornamental plant. Natural habitat types include dunes, pannes, coast ...

, and '' Lotus'' species, and other plants found in their habitat except grasses, but they can be fed apple or hawthorn foliage in captivity. The ground lackey larva is a tent caterpillar. which makes a new tent with each moult. Fully-grown caterpillars are fast walkers. The pupa is not cocooned. Adults fly from June to August, depending on the location. The length of the forewings is 13–16 mm for males and 17–21 mm for females. They fly at night.

Subspecies

*''Malacosoma castrense castrense'' *''Malacosoma castrense kirghisicum'' (Staudinger, 1879) (Asia Minor, Kazakhstan, Turkmenia, Uzbekistan) *''Malacosoma castrense thomalae'' Gaede, 1932 (Tien-Shan)

References

External links

*
''Lepidoptera of Belgium''''Lepiforum e.V.''''De Vlinderstichting''
{{Taxonbar , from=Q1535329 Malacosoma Moths described in 1758 Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus