Saturday, August 16, 2008

THE TUSSOCK MOTH SAGA CONTINUES.

You may have seen my various previous postings on different Tussock Moths, well it seems that this is my summer for finding this creature. I was out walking by the pond last week when I saw this bizarre creature on a tree trunk. It is hard to see from the photo but there is a mat of creamy coloured silk which is apparently a cocoon, the white foamy substance is an egg mass. I have to be honest when I saw this insect I had absolutely no idea at all what it was. Usually I can make an approximate guess, maybe beetle, ant, wasp and then I can narrow it down and work out what it is but this one had me completely flummoxed. So I consulted my 'oracle,' otherwise known as Doug - my department head. He is a pretty good entomologist and can usually answer any questions I have but even he was completely stumped! (At least that made me feel a bit less ignorant!) So I posted the picture on http://bugguide.net Within a few hours I had an answer - you guessed it - a White Marked Tussock Moth Orgyia leucostigma (again!) but this time it is the female moth. The female, as you can see, is flightless. It emerges from the cocoon, waits for a male, mates, lays its eggs on the empty cocoon and then dies. So mystery solved. What a fascinating creature.

Photo Credits - CJT

2 comments:

Rambling Woods said...

Isn't BugGuide amazing. Someone usually has an answer is a few minutes....

Celeste said...

Rambling Woods - yes it is a fantastic site, it has solved several puzzles for me, and like you say, always really quick.