Callosamia promethea

Promethea Silkmoth
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Saturniidae
Tribe: Attacini
Genus: Callosamia
Species: C. promethea
Binomial name
Callosamia promethea
Drury, 1773

The Promethea Silkmoth (Callosamia promethea), is a member of the Saturniidae family of moths.

Description

Adult males have dark brownish-black wings with a faint white line and pinkish coloring near a single spot on their forewings. Adult females are bright reddish-pink or a brownish color with well-developed reniform spots. Their wingspan measures 7.5-8.5 cm.[1]

Larvae have a pale green to bluish white body. Pairs of yellow-orange to red tubercles appear dorsally along the second and third thoracic segments in addition to a single yellow tubercle on the eighth abdominal segment. Larvae can reach 5-6 cm. in length before pupation.[1]

Range

C. promethea is found in the eastern United States and areas adjacent to southern Canada.[1]

Life cycle

Callosamia promethea larva
Callosamia promethea cocoon

Females lay eggs on host plants during at night. underside of leaves. The early instar larvae are gregarious and feed together on the underside of leaves, but become solitary in later instars. On the lower branches of the food plant, the larva makes a cocoon within a leaf attached to the petiole to the branch.[1] C. promethea has 1 brood in the north (which flies from June–July) and 2 or more broods in the south (which fly from March–May and from July–August).

Food Plants

The larvae of C. promethea feed on a variety of plants including- but not restricted to- the following:

References

Further reading

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This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.