Virginian Tiger Moth
Spilosoma virginica
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- A few weeks
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Nocturnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Temperate broadleaf forest
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Spines
- Status
- Common
About
The Virginia Tiger Moth is a striking all-white moth with a yellow-orange abdomen dotted with black spots. Its larva, the "yellow woolly bear" caterpillar, is a familiar garden pest that feeds on a wide variety of low-growing plants before pupating in leaf litter.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
- 2.caterpillarA voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
- 3.cocoonA silk cocoon spun in leaf litter or soil while the body remodels into a winged adult.
- 4.mothA winged adult with feathery antennae and scaled wings, most active after dark.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Erebidae
- Genus
- Spilosoma
- Species
- Spilosoma virginica