Species Basilodes pepita - Gold Moth - Hodges#9781

9781

Basilodes pepita Guenée, 1852

Phylogenetic sequence # 931676 (1)

Caterpillar less than 40 mm

Caterpillar is distinctively patterned in orange, black and white. Crossed by alternating pale and smoky black rings, and each segment has an orange spot above the spiracle. Zigzagging white spots edged with black almost form a line under the spiracles. Head pale orange and underside pale yellow.(2)

Texas to Florida and Michigan.

Holotype males from Florida. (3)

The main flight period is July to October.

Mature caterpillars August to October.

Caterpillars feed on Verbesina spp., Wingstem or Crownbeard. See Illinois wildflowers site for information on the host plant.

Overwinters as a pupa.

Caterpillar may tuck in its head and elevate the rear end of its body rather like a sawfly larva when disturbed.

Basilodes straminea from Arizona.

Forester Moth Caterpillars (Agaristinae) are somewhat similar.

Guenée, 1852. Noctuidae 2: 358; pl. 12, fig. 1.

Poole, R.W., 1995. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 26.1. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation: 120; pl. 4, fig. 13. (4)

Moth Photographers Group (5)

The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) (6)

Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) (7)