BANDED TUSSOCK MOTH

BANDED TUSSOCK MOTH

Halisota tesselaris
(Arctiidae)


Click on each photo thumbnail to enlarge.

This caterpillar grows to almost 2 inches long. Its color ranges from a yellowish-brown to a dirty grayish-white. But it has white and black tufts pointed forward from its head. It feeds on a variety of tree species readily found in our two nature centers, to include ash, elm, hackberry and oak. Its adult has a wingspan of close to 2 inches. It is tan in color, with light brown, wavy banding and a prominent green and yellow-lines tuft on its head (E,F).

 

This moth is probably common in our two nature centers. The caterpillars are seen quite frequently on the floodplains of Fontenelle Forest. The adults are rarely seen during the day – our images (E,F) were taken at night with the help of artificial light.

 

The adult moths of the Sycamore Tussock and the Banded Tussock are identical and cannot be separated except by dissection or DNA analysis.

 

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