Naming
*"Orgyia leucostigma leucostigma"⤷ "Orgyia leucostigma intermedia" Fitch, 1856
⤷ "Orgyia leucostigma plagiata"
⤷ "Orgyia leucostigma oslari" Barnes, 1900
⤷ "Orgyia leucostigma sablensis" Niel, 1979
Behavior
There are two or more generations a year in eastern North America. They overwinter in the egg stage.
Habitat
The fungus "Entomophaga maimaiga" was introduced to North America to control the gypsy moth "Lymantria dispar." The fungus also infects "O. leucostigma" and could possibly have an impact in years when "E. maimaiga" is abundant. Large larvae are mostly attacked by birds, and small larvae mostly disappear during dispersal.
Reproduction
Eggs are laid in a single mass over the cocoon of the female, and covered in a froth. Up to 300 eggs are laid at a time.The larvae are brightly coloured, with tufts of hair-like setae. The head is bright red, the body has yellow or white stripes, with a black stripe along the middle of the back. There are bright red defensive glands on the hind end of the back. Four white toothbrush-like tufts stand out from the back, and there is a grey-brown hair pencil at the hind end. Touching the hairs will set off an allergic reaction in many humans.Young larvae skeletonize the surface of the leaf, while older larvae eat everything except the larger veins. They grow to about 35 mm.
References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
