Other Common Names
Milkweed Tiger Moth, Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar (larva), Harlequin Caterpillar (larva)
Explanation of Names
Author of species is
Drury 1773, as
Phalaena egle, presumably. The origin of the species name is not clear.
Egle is a character in a Lithuanian folk tale, but it is also a surname. (Based on Internet searches.)
Identification
Wings usually unmarked gray, abdomen yellow with black spots.
Range
eastern half of US plus Quebec and Ontario
Habitat
Fields, edges, etc. with host plant
Season
Adult: May-September (two flights in much of range). Caterpillars found starting in June
(2).
Life Cycle
Larvae feed on milkweed,
Asclepias species. Adults sometimes found on hostplant during day
(1). Females lay eggs in "rafts" and caterpillars are gregarious during instars 1-3, solitary in later instars, when marked with bright tufts. May defoliate patches of milkweed
(2) (3).
Remarks
POTENTIAL FOOD FOR: Red bats and big brown bats.
FAVORITE GAMBIT: Sounding gross. Literally. They don't taste gross, at least not to bats. But they deter their predators, which hunt by sonar, by imitating the high-pitched clicking sounds of certain other moths that taste so bad that bats steer clear.
BATS FALL FOR THAT?: A Wake Forest University study shows that they do.
From Smithsonian Magazine - August '07
Print References
Covell, p. 74, plate 12 #17
(1)
Wagner, p. 474--photos of larva and adult
(2)
