Banded Tussock Moth
Halysidota tessellaris
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- A few weeks
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Nocturnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Temperate forest
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Toxins
- Status
- Common
About
The Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar is draped in long tufts of pale yellow and black hair, and sequesters plant alkaloids from its host trees to make itself chemically unpalatable to predators. Adults are cream-coloured with a mosaic of dark brown spots across the wings.
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
- Halysidota
- Species
- Halysidota tessellaris