{"id":1328,"date":"2015-10-06T12:28:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T17:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/?p=1328"},"modified":"2017-03-24T18:59:13","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T23:59:13","slug":"lappet-moth-family-lasiocampidae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/lappet-moth-family-lasiocampidae\/","title":{"rendered":"Lappet Moth (Family Lasiocampidae)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salutations, BugFans,<\/p>\n

The BugLady was stumped by this nifty moth in May, but she shouldn\u2019t have been, because she\u2019s photographed its notorious family member, the Eastern tent caterpillar moth (thanks for the ID, BugFan Les). And then in August, she received a query from the owner of a tree nursery, worried about the fabulous caterpillar that was sitting on one of her saplings (the BugLady for sure wants to see one of those caterpillars, though they\u2019re doing their best to avoid being seen<\/a>). Wagner, in Caterpillars of Eastern North America<\/em>, says \u201cI have never found a caterpillar by visual searching.\u201d (He finds them by beating on branches). The BugLady also wants to see the related Large Tolype<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

Lappet Moths\/American Lappet Moths<\/h3>\n

Lappet moths\/American lappet moths (Phyllodesma americana<\/em>) are members of the family Lasiocampidae. Lasiocampa<\/em> comes from two Greek words meaning hairy and caterpillar, and according to bugguide.net<\/a>, phyllodesma<\/em> comes from phyllon<\/em> (a leaf) and desma<\/em> (a band), which refers to bands on the wings of these leaf-mimicking moths. Family members are variously called Snout moths because of their protruding mouthparts (a name they share with a totally unrelated group of moths), Eggars<\/em> (the cocoons of some species are egg-shaped), and lappet moths. Lappet? One on-line dictionary that ranks the difficulty of words tells us that \u201cfew English speakers likely know this word.\u201d A lappet<\/em> is (a) a kind of\/process of weaving; (b) a fleshy protrusion like an earlobe or a wattle on a bird\u2019s head; and (c) a small flap, fold, or dangling part, like the fleshy-bits on the prolegs<\/a>\u00a0of the Lappet moth\u2019s caterpillar. The BugLady is happy to be of service.<\/p>\n

\"lappet-moth15-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are only three species in the genus Phyllodesma<\/em> in North America—the widely distributed LM, the Southern LM, Phyllodesma occidentis<\/em> (a.k.a. P. carpinifolia<\/em>), which pretty much replaces the LM in the Southeast, and a Californian named P. coturnix<\/em>. The very variable LM is chunky and hairy, with subtle, often rusty-colored, broad, slightly scalloped wings<\/a>. LMs are strong fliers, and they sit with their hind wings flared out and their front (top) wings tented<\/a>. Females are slightly larger than males.<\/p>\n

The equally-variable, softly-hairy caterpillar has a fringe around the edges and two red\/orange, slashes at the front of the abdomen<\/a> that are visible when it is alarmed or ambulating. The caterpillar\u2019s gray is often decorated with faint, orange and\/or blue stripes. Reference after reference stated that the \u201ccaterpillars have dorsal glands toward the rear of the abdomen,\u201d but no one elaborated. Ant-tended caterpillars (which LMs are not) exude \u201choney\u201d from dorsal glands to reward their caretakers, and other insects may emit noxious chemicals from dorsal glands as a defense.<\/p>\n

LM caterpillars are generalist feeders, found on members of the willow\/poplar, rose, ash, oak, birch, and buckthorn (!) families. Their Tent caterpillar kin can be destructive on a variety of hardwoods, but (as the BugLady, probably futilely, reassured the nursery owner) there are no red flags about LM caterpillars from any of the Extension, forestry or exterminator sites (and it doesn\u2019t take much to raise a red flag on a forestry\/Extension\/exterminator site). Adults do not feed.<\/p>\n

\"tent-caterpillar-moth15-7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Male LMs find their ladies in the dark of the night, through pheromones (chemicals) that she releases. Receptors in his feathery antennae are finely tuned to detect her \u201cperfume\u201d from as far as several miles away (where it may occur as a single molecule in a cubic yard of air), and trace it back to her. Just as we need two eyes for binocular vision, he needs two antennae so he can register which one is receiving the stronger signal and therefore set his GPS.<\/p>\n

She lays her eggs on leaves of host plants, and the caterpillars hatch<\/a> and feed at night. There\u2019s a single generation of LMs a year in the North (two in the South), and the overwintering pupa may be concealed on the host plants.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lappet Moth<\/strong> caterpillars are generalist feeders, found on members of the willow\/poplar, rose, ash, oak, birch, and buckthorn families. Their Tent caterpillar kin can be destructive on a variety of hardwoods, but there are no red flags about Lappet Moth caterpillars from any of the Extension, forestry or exterminator sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":778,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[158,79],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-caterpillars","tag-moths"],"yoast_head":"\nField Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/lappet-moth-family-lasiocampidae\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lappet Moth (Family Lasiocampidae)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lappet Moth caterpillars are generalist feeders, found on members of the willow\/poplar, rose, ash, oak, birch, and buckthorn families. 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