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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Tubeworm, Bagworm, and Clothes Moths (Tineoidea) » Bagworm Moths (Psychidae) » Psychinae » Psyche » Common Bagworm Moth - Hodges#0437 (Psyche casta)

Species Psyche casta - Common Bagworm Moth - Hodges#0437

Classification · Hodges Number · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Print References · Internet References

mystery object miniature larvae - Psyche casta

Psychidae, Bagworm Moth - Psyche casta - male

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 Tineoidea (Tubeworm, Bagworm, and Clothes Moths)

Family Psychidae (Bagworm Moths)

Subfamily Psychinae

Genus Psyche

Species casta (Common Bagworm Moth - Hodges#0437)

Hodges Number

0437

Identification

Larval case "approximately 9-13 mm long. Silk of whitish grey, heavily covered by small pieces of plant fragments, usually by segments of grass stems, arranged longitudinally, often surpassing length of case, projecting in irregular fashion posteriorly." (Davis 1964)

See discussion here for comparison to the most similar native species, Astala confederata.

Range

Introduced from Europe. First discovered in Boston in 1931. By 1964 the range extended from southeastern Canada to eastern Pennsylvania. BugGuide data indicates it has expanded west to Illinois and Minnesota, with one apparent example in Washington state.

Food

Chiefly "grasses, mosses, lichens, and other low plants"; occasionally scale insects. (Davis 1964)

Life Cycle

1. Larval case. 2. Larva. 3. Pupa. 4. Adult female. 5. Adult male

See Also

Astala confederata

Print References

Davis 1964 "Bagworm moths of the western hemisphere." Bulletin of the United States National Museum 244, 233 pages

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group (MPG)

Barcode of Life (BOLD)

EoL

UK Moths

U. Michigan

Wikipedia

Contributed by Charley Eiseman on 10 February, 2009 - 10:53pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, urtica, Tony-2, Maury Heiman, Nick Block, Kyhl Austin, Steve Morris
Last updated 17 January, 2023 - 3:02pm

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