Fir tussock moth
Orgyia detrita
The fir tussock moth is a tussock moth from North America. Tussock moth caterpillars have tufts of hair on their backs that look like little brushes. It has two names, one after fir trees and one after live oaks.
Lives in
North America
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of trees.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Fir tussock moth about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It belongs to the tussock moths, named after the hair tufts of their caterpillars.
2
It was first described by a French scientist in 1831.
3
It is also called the live oak tussock moth.
you asked
Most asked questions about Fir tussock moth
?Where does the fir tussock moth live?
In North America.
?Why is it called a tussock moth?
Because its caterpillars have tufts of hair, called tussocks, on their backs.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Orgyia detrita
- Named by
- Guérin-Méneville, 1831
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Live oak tussock moth
Where the facts come from
- Orgyia detrita (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 Wendy McCrady. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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