''Phobetron pithecium'', the hag moth, is a

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 ...

of the family

Limacodidae The Limacodidae or Eucleidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Zygaenoidea or the Cossoidea;Scoble, M.J. (1992). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity.'' Oxford University Press. the placement is in dispute. They are often ca ...

. Its larva is known as the monkey slug.

Life cycle

One generation a year occurs in the north, but two or more happen in the southern United States.

Larva

The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

is distinctive, with no close analogues, although it may be mistaken for the shed skin of a hairy spider or leaf debris. It has nine pairs of curly projections or tubercles of varying lengths from the flattened body, each densely covered in

hairs Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fin ...

. The third, fifth and seventh projection are often longer than the others. The caterpillar has been reported to cause irritation to humans. Like all limacodids, the legs are shortened and the prolegs are reduced to suction cups. The "arms" or tubercles can fall off without harming the caterpillar, aiding the larva in defense. The larvae are in length. It is solitary and is not a very significant agricultural threat, but it is a common sight in

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

Pupa

This species pupates in a cup-shaped cocoon with a circular escape hatch.

Adult

The adult moth has a wingspan up to . The male has translucent wings, and the female is drab brown and gray, with yellow scales on her legs. The day-flying female is said to

mimic In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

, complete with pollen sacs, and the male mimics a

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

Food plants

Larvae live on the underside of the leaves of, and feeds on, a variety of

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

trees and shrubs, such as apple, ash, birch, cherry, chestnut, dogwood, hickory, oak, persimmon, walnut, and willow.

References

External links

BugGuide
Photos

Large photos of adults {{DEFAULTSORT:Phobetron Pithecium Limacodidae Moths described in 1797