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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) » Leucomini » Leucoma » Satin Moth - Hodges#8319 (Leucoma salicis)

Species Leucoma salicis - Satin Moth - Hodges#8319

Classification · Hodges Number · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited

Satin Moth Caterpillar - Leucoma salicis

Aspen defoliating caterpillar - Leucoma salicis

Terrible creature - Leucoma salicis - 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 Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)

Family Erebidae

Subfamily Lymantriinae (Tussock Moths)

Tribe Leucomini

Genus Leucoma

Species salicis (Satin Moth - Hodges#8319)

Hodges Number

8319

Size

Larva to 4.5 cm

Identification

Caterpillar: "Dorsum marked with 10-11 white, intersegmental white spots and paired red setal warts on T1-A9", head black, sides blue-gray. (1)

Pupa: shiny dark brown with erect yellow setae (hairs)

Range

Canada and northeastern US. Bugguide reports it from western states and provinces, too.

Introduced from Europe in 1920.

Food

Caterpillars eat aspen, poplar (both Populus spp.) and willow (Salix)

Life Cycle

Overwinters as third instar under bark. Goes through seven instars before pupating in a thin cocoon between leaves or on bark.

Remarks

A braconid wasp, Apanteles solitarius, was introduced into New England in 1927. It is established and parasitization has been as high as 67%. These overwinter in the moth larva or as a prepupal larva in the moth's cocoon. Two separate broods emerge, each producing a 2nd generation during the summer.(2)

Telenomus californicus is a wasp in the Scelionidae family that parasitizes this moth.(2)

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group (MPG)

Pacific Northwest Moths

BOLD

Wikipedia

ubc.ca

UK Moths

Invasive.org

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 Lynette Elliott on 11 August, 2005 - 7:29am
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Beatriz Moisset, Tony-2, John Davis, Marci Hess, Steve Morris
Last updated 5 September, 2023 - 9:59am

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