Cerura vinula

For other uses, see Puss Moth.

Puss moth
Cerura vinula. Side view
Dorsal view
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Notodontidae
Genus:	Cerura
Species:	C. vinula
Binomial name
Cerura vinula (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Phalaena vinula Linnaeus, 1758 Phalaena diuramajor Retzius, 1783 Cerura borealis

Cerura vinula, the puss moth (/pʊs/), is a lepidopteran from the family Notodontidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

Subspecies

Subspecies include:

• Cerura vinula benderi (Lattin, Becker & Roesler, 1974)
• Cerura vinula estonica (Huene, 1905)
• Cerura vinula irakana (Heydemann, Schulte & Remane, 1963)
• Cerura vinula phantoma (Dalman, 1823)
• Cerura vinula vinula (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description

Mounted specimen

Caterpillar frontal view

Cerura vinula has a wingspan of 58 millimetres (2.3 in) to 75 millimetres (3.0 in) – the males are slightly smaller. The head, thorax, and body of these moths are very fluffy, with a cat-like appearance (hence the common English name puss moth). The antennæ are bipectinated. They have white or yellowish-gray forewings crossed by several wave-like dark lines. The hindwings are light gray or whitish in the males, while in the females they are suffused with blackish but almost transparent. The body is whitish gray, with the dorsal abdomen banded in black.

The caterpillars grow to about 80 millimetres (3.1 in) long. They are at first completely black and moult to light green with a dark dorsal pattern outlined in white or yellow. They also develop a tail fork with two long dark-colored tips bearing red extendable flagellae. The chrysalis is reddish brown, enclosed in a hard cocoon attached to the host plant.

Technical description

Occurring throughout the Palearctic Region and varying much in colour. The ground colour fluctuates between a very light greyish white and an almost uniform black. Thorax lighter or darker grey, with the usual black dots; abdomen blackish grey with the edges of the segments more or less broadly white. The forewing bears a grey transverse band beyond the black basal dots, a distinct discal spot and on the outer half two transverse lines which are exceedingly deeply zigzag ; black streaks extend from the marginal dots. In the hindwing the marginal dots and discal spot are sometimes absent. Throughout Europe (in the north as far as Lapland), North Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, Central-Asia, Siberia to Amurland and Japan. True vinula (44f), from Europe, has the ground light greyish white to grey, the markings of the forewing sharply. defined and the marginal dots of the hindwing usually distinct. — A very similar form is minax Hbn. (44 e) with the subbasal band of the forewing more prominent and the marginal dots of the hindwing absent. Our figure is taken from a specimen with the markings especially dark and sharp. — estonica Huene [subspecies] is remarkable for its exceptionally sparse scaling, only the basal third of the forewing to beyond the grey band being normal in scaling and markings; the outer two-thirds and the hindwing are very thinly scaled and without markings. The form was first described from Esthonia and Ingermanland, but occurs also in Western Europe, being already recorded by Borkhausen. — arctica Zett. [ ab. vinula phantoma ], which occurs in Northern Scandinavia and Lapland, is strongly darkened, the ground-colour being blackish grey and the base of the forewing and the space between the zigzag lines light; markings still distinct, and the darkened abdomen still bears some light-coloured hair. It is a transition to phantoma Dalm.(44f) [subspecies], which is found in Lapland and has the wings and the upperside of the abdomen usually uniformly black. — The form from North-West Africa, delavoiei Gaschet (44 f, g) [now full species], is likewise darker than true vinula, the forewing being uniformly smoky grey, but bearing sharp markings, and the hindwing dark brown- grey. It is found in May in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, and extends as far south into the Sahara as the food-plants occur.— intermedia Teich., [ ab. of vinula ] from the Ararat and Kurdistan, which was described as a distinct species and is still insufficiently known, is probably also a form of vinula; it is larger than ordinary specimens of this species, and the zigzag lines are more prominent and more pointed. — In Amurland, Corea and Japan, the species is represented by a somewhat different form, felina Britl. (= askolda Oberth.) [now full species] (44 e), which is distinguished by the black-edged patagia, very dark brown veins, white ground to both wings and especially deeply dentate postdiscal lines of the forewing. Discal spot and marginal dots of hindwing sharply marked. — Larva at first glossy black, then bright green, with dark red-brown dorsal marking The pupa is dark brown.

Distribution

The moth is a Palearctic realm species and lives throughout Europe (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, European Russia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Turkey, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Yugoslavia), across temperate Asia to China and in North Africa.

Habitat

This moth mostly lives in very dense woodland areas.

Biology

The flight period extends from April to August, depending on elevation, with one generation per year. Host plants include willow and poplar, especially the aspen, Populus tremula.

Females lay their chocolate-brown, 1.5 millimetres (0.059 in) wide, hemispherical eggs on the upper side of the leaves of their food plants. The moth survives the winter as a pupa in a very solid wood-reinforced cocoon, usually attached to vegetation.

When disturbed, they strike a defensive pose raising the head with a reddish area and waving the twin tails with pinkish extendable flagellae. They may squirt formic acid at the attacker if the defense warning is unheeded.

Gallery

• 
  Hatched eggs
• 
  Young caterpillar
• 
  Caterpillar, 3rd instar
• 
  Last stage
• 
  Caterpillar in defensive pose

External links

• Paolo Mazzei, Daniel Morel, Raniero Panfili Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa
• Lepiforum e.V.
• Naturhistoriska risksmuseet