''Anisota senatoria'', the orangestriped oakworm, also known as the orange-tipped oakworm, is a

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

moth of the family

Saturniidae Saturniidae, members of which are commonly named the saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor m ...

and subfamily Ceratocampinae. It is one of the more common Saturniids, reaching pest status occasionally in the northern parts of its range. As they are late-season feeders, however, they do little lasting damage to their hosts (most of the energy has been stored already). It is very similar to '' A. finlaysoni'' in southern Ontario and '' A. peigleri'' in the southern US. The species was first described by James Edward Smith in 1797.

Range

The species lives in eastern North America, from the edge of the Great Plains to the east coast and from southern Ontario to central Georgia, Alabama and eastern Texas. They are found in northern Florida, but are more common in the north.

Life cycle

There is only one brood a year.

Egg

Eggs are laid on the underside of leaves in large clusters. They take one to two weeks to hatch.

Larva

Larvae are

gregarious Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother was ...

in the early

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s and often do not disperse much in the late instars. The fifth instar is black with yellow-orange stripes on its side, and prominent spiny horns on the second segment of the thorax, about 5 cm long. Smaller spikes occur on the remaining segments. They feed on oaks in August and September.

Pupa

As with most of this

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

, when the caterpillars are ready to pupate, they burrow underground. Just before that, they may be seen wandering to locate pupation sites.

Adult

Adults emerge once a year to mate, in mid-June to mid-July. Mating occurs in the middle of the day, and females lay eggs late in the day. As with all of

, the adults do not feed. Their mouthparts have been reduced. Females are stout bodied, yellow orange with a silver-white spot and faint black line across the forewing. There is also a line across the hindwing. Males are much smaller, and red brownish, but also have the white spot and pale lines. Both are speckled with black spots. Wingspan 3–5 cm.

Food plants

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 ...

s, ''Quercus'' species, especially red oaks (Tuskes et al. 1996). Wagner (2005) also reports chestnut, birch, hazel, hickory and maple.

References

*Tuskes, P. M.; Tuttle, J. P. & Collins, M. M. (1996). ''The Wild Silk Moths of North America''. Cornell Univ. Press. *Wagner, D. L. (2005). ''Caterpillars of Eastern North America''. Princeton Univ. Press. *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anisota Senatoria Ceratocampinae Moths described in 1797 Moths of North America