''Eutachyptera'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

genus in 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 ...

. The genus was erected by William Barnes and

James Halliday McDunnough James Halliday McDunnough (10 May 1877 – 23 February 1962) was a Canadians, Canadian Linguistics, linguist, musician, and Entomology, entomologist best known for his work with North American Lepidoptera, but who also made important contributio ...

in 1912. Its single species, ''Eutachyptera psidii'', was first described by Sallé in 1857. It is found in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Behaviour

The caterpillars feed on the leaves of

guava Guava ( ), also known as the 'guava-pear', is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), nativ ...

(''Psidium'' sp.) and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

. They live communally in large silken nests, which can extend to or more in length. They remain in the nests by day and leave at night to feed, laying a trail of pheromones to help them and their nest-mates navigate to and from feeding areas. Unusually among caterpillars, ''E. psidii'' larvae can remain active for as long as 18 days with no food, which they may have to do when their host trees lose their leaves in winter.

Use of larvae and silk

The larvae are among the caterpillars traded and eaten in Mexico. The silk nests were used by the

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

Mixtecs The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec culture w ...

and Zapotecs to make a paper-like fabric, which was a commercial item at the time of

Moctezuma Montezuma or Moctezuma may refer to: People * Moctezuma I (1398–1469), the second Aztec emperor and fifth king of Tenochtitlan * Moctezuma II (c. 1460–1520), ninth Aztec emperor ** Pedro Moctezuma, a son of Montezuma II ** Isabel Moctezuma ...

. Later, the Mixtec and other communities in

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

extracted the silk fibres from the nests and wove them into sashes. This practise had ceased by 1997.

Synonyms

The US

National Center for Biotechnology Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The NCBI is lo ...

lists the following synonyms for ''E. psidii'': * ''Bombyx psidii'' * ''Gloveria psidii'' * ''Lasiocampa psidii'' * ''Metanastria psidii'' * ''Tachyptera psidii''

External links

Lasiocampidae Taxa named by William Barnes (entomologist) Taxa named by James Halliday McDunnough Eutachyptera psidii {{Lasiocampidae-stub