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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Moths » Noctuoidea » Tussock Moths (Lymantriidae) » Orgyiini » Orgyia » Fir Tussock Moth - Hodges#8313 (Orgyia detrita)
Photo#109315
Puzzling - Orgyia detrita - female
Copyright © 2007 John Hartgerink

Puzzling - Orgyia detrita - Female
Baton Rouge - BREC Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, USA
May 12, 2007
Size: about 5/8 inches
Looks like a moth.
But no wings, or wings not developed?
Just came out of cocoon?
Bug is clinging to an empty cocoon.
Cocoon pictures with back lighting (not shown) suggest cocoon is empty.
I assume it just came out of this cocoon (?).
But if so, when were eggs fertilized?

In meadow area - 9:00 am - about 80 F.
On a 5-6 ft high seed stalk of some type of grass.
The stalk is dead, left from last year.
Bug is about 5/8 inch long.
Egg sack is about 5/8 inch long.
Cocoon is about 1.5 inch long.

These links are to the Tussock Caterpillars we have and
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Contributed by John Hartgerink on 12 May, 2007 - 2:32pm
Last updated 14 June, 2007 - 8:46am

We added a comment in your text section
so that you could click on edit and see how it is done. Free free to edit or even delete that sentence if you don't want it there. We're enjoying your images immensely!
… john and jane balaban, 12 May, 2007 - 4:29pm login or register to post comments

 
Edit comment looks good, thanks.
I think I see how edit text, but not how to insert a picture of another specimen.
I added two pictures of the "toothbrush caterpillars" that we see under ID Request.

Thanks for all your help on this and other bug ID's.
It sure helps to have stories to go along with the pictures.
… John Hartgerink, 12 May, 2007 - 6:10pm login or register to post comments

 
Not exactly sure of your question,
so we changed the comment under your image so as to contain thumblinks to your recently posted caterpillars. If you click on edit under this image and scroll down through your commentary for the image, you will see the line we added and how we added the thumbnails. Hope this helps - lovely images!
… john and jane balaban, 12 May, 2007 - 9:55pm login or register to post comments

Wingless Moths
I don't know which species- there are several- but wingless moths are not unheard of. In these species, the female releases a scent that the males can detect from great distances. While the female is wingless, the males aren't, and they home in on her to mate.

Here's one such species:
… Chuck Entz, 12 May, 2007 - 2:55pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks, I didn't know about wingless moths!
What fun!
We have had lots of tussock moth caterpillars ("toothbrush caterpillars") around.
Most have the orange dots on the sides, as discussed for orgyia detrita.
I have pictures of the caterpillars that I could post, but I don't think that it is "legal" to post them into this discussion and I don't know how to do links.
Many of ours look like those that are posted by Tunstall under orgyia detrita.
… John Hartgerink, 12 May, 2007 - 3:44pm login or register to post comments

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