Black-blotched Prominent

Oedemasia leptinoides

"Oedemasia leptinoides", the black-blotched schizura or black-blotched prominent, is a species of moth in the family Notodontidae. It was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1864 and is found in North America.
Black-blotched Prominent- Oedemasia leptinoides (Photo 3) I collected this caterpillar on 7/22/25. I wasn't sure if it was molting, pupating, or dying. It turns out that it was molting. The process took nearly 24 hours. For most of that time, the caterpillar was lying still on its silk mat, but the last couple hours (on 7/23) were occupied with convulsions that looked like the caterpillar's guts were churning. It made me nauseous to watch, but watch I did. Finally, it crawled out of its old skin. I let it rest for several hours before releasing back into the wild. Video 1 shows the convulsions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f-mpC4rJMU Video 2 shows the cat crawling out of its old skin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oWqJsCsDsQ https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170617/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_1.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170618/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_2.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170616/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_3.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170615/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_4.html Geotagged,Oedemasia leptinoides,Summer,United States

Naming

This species was formerly a member of the genus "Schizura", but was transferred to "Oedemasia" as a result of research published in 2021.
Black-blotched Prominent- Oedemasia leptinoides (Photo 2) I collected this caterpillar on 7/22/25. I wasn't sure if it was molting, pupating, or dying. It turns out that it was molting. The process took nearly 24 hours. For most of that time, the caterpillar was lying still on its silk mat, but the last couple hours (on 7/23) were occupied with convulsions that looked like the caterpillar's guts were churning. It made me nauseous to watch, but watch I did. Finally, it crawled out of its old skin. I let it rest for several hours before releasing back into the wild. Video 1 shows the convulsions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f-mpC4rJMU Video 2 shows the cat crawling out of its old skin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oWqJsCsDsQ https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170617/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_1.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170618/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_2.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170616/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_3.html https://www.jungledragon.com/image/170615/black-blotched_prominent-_oedemasia_leptinoides_photo_4.html Geotagged,Oedemasia leptinoides,Summer,United States

Food

Caterpillars engage in girdling, selectively damaging the area near the stem of the host plant. Host plants for "O. lepinoides" include "Carya texana" and "Carya illinoensis".

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyNotodontidae
GenusOedemasia
SpeciesO. leptinoides
Photographed in
United States of America