Banded tussock moth
The banded tussock moth has light brown wings with beige stripes and a hairy yellow body. Its caterpillar is a fluffy ball of long tufts with long pencil-like hairs at both ends and a bright orange head.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The grown-up moths drink juice from dying plants to collect bitter chemicals that make them taste bad to enemies.
Its caterpillar can grow to about 4.5 centimetres long.
The caterpillar rests on top of leaves where it is easy to see, maybe because its hairs keep enemies away.
In winter it sleeps as a pupa in a grey cocoon woven with its own caterpillar hairs.
Most asked questions about Banded tussock moth
?Is the banded tussock moth caterpillar poisonous?
Its hairs can sting and itch your skin, so look but do not touch.
?What does the banded tussock moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat leaves of many trees, like oak, birch and willow.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Halysidota tessellaris
- Named by
- J. E. Smith, 1797
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Pale tiger moth, Tessellated halisidota
Where the facts come from
- Halysidota tessellaris (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 Patrick Coin ( Patrick Coin ). CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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