Розовая бабочка-шелкопряд кленовый (Rosy Maple Moth)

Species of moth

Dryocampa rubicunda, the rosy maple moth, is a small North American moth in the family Saturniidae, also known as the great silk moths. It was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793. The species is known for its wooly body and pink and yellow coloration, which varies from cream or white to bright pink or yellow.

The rosy maple moth is the second smallest of the silk moths; males have a wingspan of 3.2 to 4.4 centimetres (1.25 1.75 in); females of 3.8 to 5 centimetres (1.5–2 in). The species can be identified by their unique, but varying, pink and yellow coloration. They have reddish to pink legs and antennae, yellow bodies and hindwings, and pink forewings with a triangular yellow band across the middle. Their range extends south along the Atlantic coast of North America to Dade County, Florida, and extends west from eastern Texas through Minnesota.

The rosy maple moth can be found in temperate deciduous forests and nearby suburban areas and urban landscapes. Their common name derives from the fact that they can primarily be found on maple trees, including red maples (Acer rubrum), sugar maples (Acer saccharum), silver maples (Acer saccharinum), and box elder maples (Acer negundo). They can also be found on oak trees, particularly turkey oaks (Quercus laevis), especially when they are found dispersed among maple trees.

Larvae hatch and live on the same tree through their development, then pupate in the soil beneath the same tree. The larvae primarily eat the underside of leaves, therefore preferentially staying in that location of their home tree. The adults do not eat, so they can have a sizeable home range. The larvae eat the entire leaf blade and are capable of consuming a few leaves each. Thus, large populations of greenstriped mapleworms are capable of defoliating trees. This damage is mostly harmless and the leaves will grow back. As with all Saturniidae, adult rosy maple moths do not feed. Eggs hatch after about ten days to two weeks.

Rosy maple moth larvae are known as greenstriped mapleworms, and they undergo five instars prior to adulthood, during which their coloration and eating behavior changes. In early instars, the larvae have relatively large black heads and pale yellow green bodies with faint green stripes. They have two large dark green to black tubercles on the second thoracic segment and three rows of smaller spines, or setae, on each side of their body. Until the fourth instar, the larvae live and feed together, but in their final two instars they are solitary. Adult moths are generally nocturnal, preferentially flying throughout the first third of the night.