Giant leopard moth
| Giant Leopard Moth | |
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| Species: | H. scribonia
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| Hypercompe scribonia (Stoll, 1790)
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The giant leopard moth or eyed tiger moth (Hypercompe scribonia) is a moth of the family Arctiidae. It is distributed throughout southern Ontario, and southern and eastern United States from New England to Mexico. [2] The obsolete name Ecpantheria scribonia is still occasionally encountered.
This species has a wingspan of 76 mm (3 in). The wings of this moth are bright white with a pattern of neat black blotches, some solid and some hollow. The abdomen is dark blue with orange markings, the male has a narrow yellow line on the sides. Its legs have black and white bands. Adult moths are strictly nocturnal and do not generally fly before nightfall.[3]
The caterpillar is of the "Woolly Bear" kind, with a thick coat of black bristles (setae) and red or orange colored bands between its segments, which become conspicuous when the caterpillar rolls into a ball for defense. Like the banded wooly bear, its hairs are not urticant, and do not typically cause irritation.
Recorded food plants
The caterpillar eats a variety of broad-leaf plants such as broadleaf plantains, dandelions and violets:
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Gallery
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Larval stage -
Caterpillar in typical defensive ball -
Caterpillar with typical red stripes -
head of a caterpillar -
Closeup of head and thorax -
Closeup showing iridescent blue spots -
Closeup of newly eclosed moth -
Showing the old skin, empty pupal shell, and adult moth -
Last image at night before it flew off once wings dried -
Wings spread, displaying abdomen colors -
Close-up while wings upswept -
The moment before take-off
References
- ^ Poole, Robert W.; Patricia Gentili (1996). "Hypercompe scribonia". NatureServe. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ Hypercompe scribonia, Butterflies and moths of North America
- ^ Fullard, James H. & Napoleone, Nadia (2001). Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. Animal Behaviour 62(2): 349–368. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 PDF fulltext
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