Virginian tiger moth

Virginian tiger moth is a common, medium-sized, tiger moth. The adult is ⅝″to 1″ long and has a wingspan of 1¼″ to 2″.

The thorax is densely covered with long white hairs. The abdomen is white and yellowish-orange with an upper (middorsal) and two lateral longitudinal rows of black spots.

The wings are pure white. The forewing usually has one to three small black dots more or less in a line; one near the base along the antemedial line, one near the end of the discal cell, and one closer to the margin. Any or all of them may be absent. The hindwing usually has more and larger black spots; a spot in the discal area, and a row of spots in the postmedial area.

The head is white. The antennae are feathery, with extensions along both sides of the shaft (bipectinate).

The forelegs are yellowish-orange and black, the other legs white and black.

This tiger moth is most easily recognized when in the caterpillar stage. The caterpillar is densely covered from head to rear with long, orange or yellow, occasionally white, red, or black, hairs (setae). The setae are in clusters of several dark, short hairs and a single light, much longer hair. The longest hairs are more than three body segments in length. There is a small breathing hole (spiracle) surrounded by a white oval on both sides of each thoracic segment and all but the last abdominal segment. There are yellow markings on the abdomen. Mature caterpillars are found from May through November.

Wingspan: 1¼″ to 2″

Total length: ⅝″to 1″

Agreeable tiger moth (Spilosoma congrua) abdomen is pure white with no yellow patches or black spots. The forewings usually have many small black spots. The hindwings are unspotted except for a small discal spot.

Woodlands, forests, fields, gardens.

Two generations. May to November

The female extrudes an organ that emits a pheromone. Males are attracted by the scent of the pheromone. After mating, the female lays groups of 20 to 100 yellow eggs on the underside of a leaf. The caterpillar feeds for a short time and then spins a cocoon. After two or three weeks in the cocoon it emerges as an adult. The last generation in a year overwinters as larvae. Caterpillars are discovered by humans most often in the fall, when they are searching for a suitable location to hibernate.

A wide variety of trees, shrubs, and low-growing plants.

Sources

4, 7, 21, 24, 27, 29, 30, 71, 75, 82, 83.

Widespread and common

Until recently, tiger moths and lichen moths were treated as a separate family Arctiidae. A recently published monograph (Lafontaine and Schmidt, 2010) contended that the Arctiidae “were more closely related to groups within the Noctuidae than to non-noctuid families.” The Arctiidae were transferred intact to the family Erebidae as a subfamily (Arctiinae). The former subfamilies are now tribes and the former tribes are now subtribes.

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