Hyalophora cecropia

• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Common Names

Description

Family Saturniidae

'The Saturniidae are members of the Superfamily Bombycoidea . These species are medium to very large in size, and this family includes the largest moths in North America. Adults have a wingspan of 3 to 15 centimeters, relatively small heads , and densely hairy bodies. Larvae are usually very fleshy , with clumps of raised bristles . Buck moth and Io moth caterpillars have sharp, stinging hairs . Caterpillars mostly feed on leaves of trees and shrubs ; some cause severe damage. Pupa develop in silken cocoons or in the soil. This family does not contain the commercial silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), which is not native to North America.

'[1]

Subfamily Saturniinae

Giant silkworm moths are members of the Family Saturniidae. These are medium to very large-sized moths, with adult wingspans ranging from 7.5 to 15 cm. They have hairy bodies and relatively small heads . Caterpillars feed on a wide range of native and ornamental trees and shrubs . Caterpillars of giant silkworms pupate in a well-built silken cocoon . The commercial silkworm moth is not native to North America and is not a member of this Family or Subfamily .[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Successional habitats in many areas including urban and suburban environments.

Biology

Diet

Caterpillar hosts: Various trees and shrubs including box elder (Acer negundo), sugar maple (Acer saccharinum), wild cherries and plums (Prunus), apples (Malus), alder and birch (Betulaceae), dogwoods (Cornus), and willows (Salix). Adult food: Adults do not feed .

Reproduction

Females lay rows of 2-6 eggs on both sides of the leaves of small host trees or shrubs . Eggs hatch in 10-14 days. Young caterpillars feed in groups on leaves; older caterpillars are solitary. The cocoon is attached along its full length to a twig ; to escape predation by rodents and birds, the cocoon is usually constructed in a dark, protected area .

Behavior

Flight: One flight from March-July in most of the range ; two flights in the Midwest, from May-early June and then 2 weeks later.

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: Beccaloni G.

Similar Species

Members of the genus Hyalophora

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 22 species and subspecies in this genus:

H. albofasciata · H. californica · H. ceanothi · H. cecropia (Cecropia Silkmoth) · H. cedrosensis · H. columbia (Columbian Silk Moth) · H. columbia columbia (Columbian Silk Moth) · H. columbia gloveri (Glover's Silkmoth) · H. euryalus (Ceanothus Silkmoth) · H. gloveri · H. griffithsi · H. heyeri · H. kasloensis · H. macula · H. nokomis · H. obscura · H. parvimacula · H. reducta · H. rubra · H. uhlerii · H. watsoni · H. winonah

More Info

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• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• A hand-book to the order Lepidoptera. By W.F. Kirby London, E. Lloyd, limited, 1896-1897. ENG url p. 91.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. ENG url p. 599, p. 89, p. 92.
• Catalog of hymenoptera in America north of Mexico / prepared cooperatively by specialists on the various groups of Hymenoptera under the direction of Karl V. Krombein [et al.]. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979- ENG url p. 2539, p. 347, p. 449, p. 702.
• Catalogue of scientific papers, 1800-1900. Compiled by the Royal Society of London. London, C.J. Clay and Sons, 1867-1902 [etc.] Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1914-25. ENG url p. 609.
• Entomological news. [Philadelphia]American Entomological Society, 1925- ENG url p. 122, p. 123, p. 172, p. 309, p. 32, p. 334, p. 336, p. 339, p. 47, p. 49, p. 59.
• Field Museum of Natural History bulletin. Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History, [1930]-c1990. ENG url p. 18, p. 18.
• General embryological information service. Utrecht, Hubrecht Laboratory. ENG url p. 11, p. 12, p. 12, p. 12, p. 13, p. 15, p. 16, p. 160, p. 168, p. 189, p. 194, p. 197, p. 20, p. 22, p. 22, p. 22, p. 223, p. 45, p. 45, p. 7, p. 7, p. 73, p. 75, p. 76, p. 77, p. 78, p. 80, p. 92, p. 92, p. 93, p. 94, p. 94, p. 98.
• General index and supplement to the nine reports on the insects of Missouri / by Charles V. Riley. Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1881. ENG url p. 144.
• Insect physiology. London, Methuen;[1956] ENG url p. 89.
• Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1866- ENG url p. 211.
• Naturalist (Morris) London. url p. 284.
• Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. Boston [etc.]Boston Society of Natural History. ENG url p. 188.
• Proceedings. 5th Biology Conference "Oholo" 1960. Edited by Nathan Grossowicz, Shlomo Hestrin and Alexander Keynan. Amsterdam, Elsevier Pub. Co., 1961. ENG url p. 133.
• The Biological bulletin. Woods Hole, Mass.: Marine Biological Laboratory, ENG url p. 1, p. 104, p. 108, p. 109, p. 113, p. 119, p. 129, p. 133, p. 162, p. 169, p. 179, p. 181, p. 195, p. 214, p. 227, p. 230, p. 242, p. 269, p. 274, p. 278, p. 294, p. 310, p. 323, p. 327, p. 329, p. 349, p. 367, p. 389, p. 40, p. 429, p. 439, p. 441, p. 49, p. 512, p. 517, p. 520, p. 525, p. 528, p. 574, p. 586, p. 640, p. 641, p. 648, p. 71, p. 79, p. 8, p. 91, p. 93, p. 93, p. 94.

Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed November 18, 2006.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 28, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 2 providers.
• LepIndex: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.
• Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Mountain Prairie Information Node. March 26, 2007.
• Opler, Paul A., Kelly Lotts, and Thomas Naberhaus, coordinators. 2009. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Big Sky Institute. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ (Version of April 17, 2009).
• The Global Lepidoptera Names Index2, 12.2, 2005.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 28, 2008:

• Illinois Natural History Survey
• University of Alberta: University of Alberta Lepidoptera Collection

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2605341
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Lep-68274.0
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: IILEW0Y010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 12950

Footnotes

1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=29&sci=Saturniidae&com=Wild Silk Moths [back]
2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Eurys&search=Search [back]

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