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Megalopyge opercularis is a moth of the family Megalopygidae.It has numerous common names, including southern flannel moth for its adult form, and puss caterpillar, asp, Italian asp, fire caterpillar, woolly slug, opossum bug, [3] puss moth, tree asp, or asp caterpillar.
When the caterpillar is fully mature it spins a dark brown silken cocoon on a branch which usually has a leaf to protect it with. When spinning is complete, the caterpillar sheds its final skin and takes the form of its pupal life stage. Within a day of spinning completion, the cocoon sets to a hard waterproof shell with a rough exterior and a ...
The larvae are black with orange spots arranged in lines down the whole body. Their head's prothoracic shield, and the anal plate, are one color, either green or orange with small black dots. [3] A tail-like spine protruding from the back of the body is a typical for sphingid moth caterpillars, known as “hornworms”. [2]
As caterpillars, they tend to feed on a wide range of host plants. This includes oak, apple, birch, willow, hackberry, cherry and coniferous trees such as fir and spruce.
The spiny caterpillars are striking in appearance, with black bodies and a line of eight reddish-orange dots running down the back (aposematic, warning coloration). The prolegs are dark red. The body is covered with short hairs and black spines and white dots. [2] The fully grown mourning cloak caterpillars attain two inches in length. [3]
The female is slightly larger than the male in larva form, and as an adult finds a mate by extruding an organ that emits a pheromone which the male can smell. The male, which unlike the female has the large, feathered antennae characteristic of pheromone-using moths, flies zigzag search patterns, eventually homing in on a female.
The Initial symptom of being stung by a puss caterpillar is usually just a painful skin reaction, but some cases can become more serious. Julie Hammer of Virginia Beach says that when she was ...
Manduca quinquemaculata, the five-spotted hawkmoth, is a brown and gray hawk moth of the family Sphingidae.The caterpillar, often referred to as the tomato hornworm, can be a major pest in gardens; they get their name from a dark projection on their posterior end and their use of tomatoes as host plants.