Western tussock moth
The western tussock moth is a moth where the boy and the girl look very different. The male has wings and flies, but the female has no working wings and cannot fly at all. Its hairy caterpillars live on oak trees.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The mother covers her white eggs with her own hairs to keep them safe through the winter.
Tiny caterpillars hang on silk threads and let the wind carry them to new places.
The caterpillars hatch in spring, and the moths come out of their cocoons in summer.
In southern California the caterpillars can harm orange and lemon orchards.
Most asked questions about Western tussock moth
?Can you touch a tussock moth caterpillar?
Better not. Its hairs can make the skin itchy or cause a rash.
?Why can't the female western tussock moth fly?
The females do not have working wings. They stay near their cocoon and lay eggs there.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Orgyia vetusta
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Western tussock moth (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by (c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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