Hyalophora cecropia
| Cecropia moth | |
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| Hyalophora cecropia, mounted adult female | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Saturniidae |
| Genus: | Hyalophora |
| Species: | H. cecropia |
| Binomial name | |
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Hyalophora cecropia (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| External identifiers for Hyalophora cecropia | |
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| Encyclopedia of Life | 385467 |
| Also found in: | |
Hyalophora cecropia (cecropia moth) is North America's largest native moth. It is a member of the Saturniidae family, or giant silk moths. Females with a wingspan of six inches (160 mm) or more have been documented. It is found as far west as the Rocky Mountains and north into the majority of Canadian provinces. The larvae of these moths are most commonly found on maple trees, but they have been known to feed on cherry and birch trees among many others.
Like all members of the giant silk moth family, the nocturnal adult cecropia moths only reproduce, lacking functional mouthparts or digestive system. Therefore, they survive a maximum of about two weeks.
To find a mate, the female cecropia moth emits pheromones which the male's sensitive antennae can detect up to a mile away, although a male may fly up to 7 miles while searching for a female. Mating begins in the early morning hours and lasts until the evening. Afterward the female lays up to one hundred eggs, which hatch into tiny black caterpillars.
These larvae feed upon many common trees and shrubs, including maple, birch, and apple. As they grow larger, it becomes clear that the black color is actually small black hairs growing from tubercles (small projections) all over the body, which at early stages is yellow-green. As the larvae grow, the coloration becomes green to bluish-green, with the tubercles becoming blue, yellow or orange, depending on body location, while the black hairs are eventually lost. Upon reaching maturity in Autumn, the caterpillars, now 4 to 4.5 inches long, spin large cocoons on trees or wooden structures to emerge as adults in the first two weeks of seasonally warm weather in early Summer. Hyalophora cecropia moths are univoltine, having only one generation per year.
Differentiating between sexes of this species is very easy. The most obvious difference is in the plumose or feathery antennae. Males possess large feathery antennae while females have smaller, less bushy antenna. Females also have larger, more rounded abdomens than males.
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Wikipedia