Dryocampa rubicunda

Rosy maple moth
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Genus:	Dryocampa
Species:	D. rubicunda
Binomial name
Dryocampa rubicunda (Fabricius, 1793)

Dryocampa rubicunda (rosy maple moth) is a North American moth in the family Saturniidae. Males have a wingspan of 1.25 to 1.75 inches; females of 1.50 to 2 inches. They have reddish-to-pink legs and antennae, yellow bodies and hindwings, and pink forewings with a triangular yellow band across the middle. Males have bushier antennae than females. As the name implies, rosy maple moth caterpillars mainly feed on maples, particularly red maple, silver maple, and sugar maple. However, the adult moths do not eat, like all other Saturniid moths.

Life cycle

Rosy maple moth

Females lay pale yellow eggs in clusters of 20-30 on the undersides of maple leaves. After about two weeks, small gregarious caterpillars hatch. They will remain gregarious through the third instar, but the final two are solitary. The mature larvae are light green with black lateral lines, red heads, and two filaments behind the head, and reach lengths of about 2 inches. When they are ready, they climb to the bottom of the host tree and pupate in shallow underground chambers. The pupae are very dark, elongated, and have small spines. The pupa ends in a small forked point. When the imago (adult) ecloses, it has small wings which it has to pump full of fluid in order for them to expand and allow for flight. Adult moths are generally nocturnal; they preferentially fly throughout the first third of the night. The females emit pheromones at night and attract males, which have bushier antennae to detect the pheromones.