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The larvae are defoliators, skeletonizing the leaves they feed on, but only the late summer batch of caterpillars is plentiful enough to do much damage to crops. This species tends to have two to three life cycles per year, with one hibernating for the winter in temperate climates.
The other caterpillars in this size range are almost universally Sphingidae, which are seldom hairy and tend to have diagonal stripes on their sides. Many Sphingidae caterpillars bear a single curved horn on their hind end. These are actually not dangerous, but large, hairy caterpillars should generally not be touched except by experts.
More than 450 insect species feed on A. syriaca, including flies, beetles, ants, bees, wasps, and butterflies.It is among the most important food sources for monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) caterpillars in the northeastern and midwestern United States and is one of only three milkweed species on which the eastern monarch migration largely depends.
Like all species in the giant order lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the monarch lifecycle is a perfect metamorphosis of four acts: egg, caterpillar, pupa, butterfly. ... Last winter, monarchs ...
The adult butterflies hibernate during the winter months. Typical locations of overwintering include tree cavities and on the ground underneath loose tree bark (covered by snow). [ 3 ] They often emerge from hibernation before the snow has completely melted, making it one of the first butterflies to take wing in the spring.
Butterflies need specific plants, called host plants, where they can lay their eggs and caterpillars hatch. Not all caterpillars will become butterflies, of course, because some are eaten by birds ...
Described and named Phalena plumata caudata by James Petiver in 1700, this was the first North American saturniid to be reported in the insect literature. [2] The initial Latin name, which roughly translates to "brilliant, feather tail", [9] was replaced when Carl Linnaeus described the species in 1758 in the tenth edition of Systema Naturae, and renamed it Phalaena luna, later Actias luna ...
Like most people, we encourage milkweed growth for the endangered monarch butterflies. A milkweed tussock moth caterpillar feasting on a milkweed plant, displaying their distinctive black, orange ...