''Phobetron pithecium'', the hag moth, 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

Limacodidae The Limacodidae or Eucleidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Zygaenoidea or the Cossoidea;Scoble, M.J. (1992). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity.'' Oxford University Press. the placement is in dispute. They are often ca ...

. Its larva is known as the monkey slug.

Lifecycle

One generation a year occurs in the north, but two or more happen in the southern United States.

Larva

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. ...

is distinctive, with no close analogues, although it may be mistaken for the shed skin of a hairy spider or leaf debris. It has nine pairs of curly projections or tubercles of varying lengths from the flattened body, each densely covered in

hairs Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

. The third, fifth and seventh projection are often longer than the others. The caterpillar has been reported to cause irritation to humans. Like all limacodids, the legs are shortened and the prolegs are reduced to suction cups. The "arms" or tubercles can fall off without harming the caterpillar, aiding the larva in defense. The larvae are in length. It is solitary and is not a very significant agricultural threat, but it is a common sight in

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...

Pupa

This species pupates in a cup-shaped cocoon with a circular escape hatch.

Adult

The adult moth has a wingspan up to . The male has translucent wings, and the female is drab brown and gray, with yellow scales on her legs. The day-flying female is said to

mimic MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...

a bee, complete with pollen sacs, and the male mimics a

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

Food plants

Larvae live on the underside of the leaves of, and feeds on, a variety of

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, ...

trees and shrubs, such as apple, ash, birch, cherry, chestnut, dogwood, hickory, oak, persimmon, walnut, and willow.

References

External links

BugGuide
Photos

Large photos of adults {{DEFAULTSORT:Phobetron Pithecium Limacodidae