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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Erebidae » Tussock Moths (Lymantriinae) » Orgyiini » Orgyia » Rusty Tussock Moth - Hodges#8308 (Orgyia antiqua)

Species Orgyia antiqua - Rusty Tussock Moth - Hodges#8308

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Internet References · Works Cited

Rusty Tussock Moth - Orgyia antiqua - male

Fuzzy Mostly Black Caterpillar - Orgyia antiqua

cool caterpillar cropped - Orgyia antiqua

The Caterpillar of Grand Portage - Orgyia antiqua

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)

Family Erebidae

Subfamily Lymantriinae (Tussock Moths)

Tribe Orgyiini

Genus Orgyia

Species antiqua (Rusty Tussock Moth - Hodges#8308)

Hodges Number

8308

Other Common Names

The Vapourer

L'étoilée - En français… Ilze V-G.

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Phalaena antiqua (Linnaeus, 1758)

Phalaena paradoxa (Retzius, 1783)

Orgyia confinis (Grum-Grshimailo, 1891)

Orgyia gonostigma (Scopoli, 1763)

Orgyia recens (Hübner, 1819)

Size

25-30mm

Identification

Females are wingless. The male wingspan is 3.0 cm. Forewing is red-brown with a large white subanal spot in the postmedian area, hindwing red-orange to orange-brown.''

Larval description from Wagner "Jet black dorsal stripe, four straw middorsal tufts, and bright red setal warts. Immediately distinguishable from all other tussocks by long, black, lateral hairpencil on A1 and adjacent white to tan hairpencil on T3. Black setae pencils or lashes plumose at their apices. Glands on A6 and A7 bright red"(1)

Range

Native to Europe but now found throughout North America, Europe, and parts of Africa and Asia, according to this article.

Season

Moths fly in late summer to fall.

Food

Caterpillars are generalist feeders on the foliage of flowering trees in the Rosaceae, Fagaceae, Ericaceae, and Salicaceae.

Life Cycle

The female lays her eggs on what remains of the pupal cocoon, which then overwinter. When hatched, the very hairy caterpillars feed on a range of deciduous trees and shrubs.

1-2 generation per year(2)

1. egg cluster. 2. Caterpillar. 3. Cocoon with pupa. 4. Wingless female and eggs. 5. Male

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group - Images of live & pinned adults

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center - Image of pinned adult & info

UK Moths - Image of live adult & info

CBIF - Image of pinned adult

pyrgus.de - Photographs of complete life cycle series by Wolfgang Wagner

Works Cited

1.	Caterpillars of Eastern North America David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.

2.	Eastern Forest Insects Whiteford L. Baker. 1972. U.S. Department of Agriculture · Forest Service.

Contributed by tom murray on 13 August, 2005 - 9:42pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, john and jane balaban, Beatriz Moisset, Chuck Entz, Jason D. Roberts, Maury Heiman, ceiseman, Harsi S. Parker, Marci Hess
Last updated 5 August, 2023 - 11:35am

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