Dasychira vagans

Last updated

Variable tussock moth
Dasychira vagans - Variable Tussock Moth (possibly) (15177991991).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Genus: Dasychira
Species:
D. vagans
Binomial name
Dasychira vagans
(Barnes & McDunnough, 1913)
Synonyms
  • Olene vagansBarnes & McDunnough, 1913
  • Olene willingiBarnes & McDunnough, 1913
  • Olene vagans griseaBarnes & McDunnough, 1913

Dasychira vagans, the variable tussock moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Newfoundland to southern British Columbia in the north and North Carolina and Utah in the west. The habitat consists of forests, including coastal rainforests, high elevation mixed hardwood-conifer forests, oak woodlands and mixed hardwood forests. The species was first described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1913.

The length of the forewings is 14–18 mm for males and 22–24 mm for females. [1] The ground colour of the forewings is blue grey, with fine black scales. The costal part of the median area is usually whitish grey and the antemedial and postmedial lines are dark grey. The hindwings are grey in males and lighter grey to brown grey in females. Adults are on wing from June to August in one generation per year.

The larvae feed on a wide range of plants from Aceraceae, Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Salicaceae and Rosaceae, but favors Quercus species. [2]

Subspecies

Related Research Articles

<i>Olene mendosa</i> Species of moth

Olene mendosa, the brown tussock moth or hairy tussock moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1823. It is found in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia.

<i>Boloria chariclea</i> Species of butterfly

Boloria chariclea, the Arctic fritillary or purplish fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the northern parts of the Palearctic and Nearctic realms.

<i>Calliteara pudibunda</i> Species of moth

Calliteara pudibunda, the pale tussock, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The Dutch common name for the moth (Meriansborstel) comes from the butterfly and insect painter Maria Sibylla Merian. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in Asia and Europe.

<i>Dasychira</i> Genus of moths

Dasychira is a genus of tussock moths in the family Erebidae described by Jacob Hübner in 1809. They are well distributed all over Africa, Europe, North America, Madagascar, Japan, China, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Java and Australia.

<i>Dasychira grisefacta</i> Species of moth

Dasychira grisefacta, the pine tussock or grizzled tussock, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Harrison Gray Dyar Jr. in 1911. It is found in North America in Alberta, from British Columbia to Arizona and Oregon, in New Mexico, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Cissusa indiscreta, the indiscreet cissusa moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. The species is found from British Columbia, south to California and in the south-west from Arizona to central Colorado. The habitat consists of oak woodlands and mixed hardwood forests.

<i>Orgyia pseudotsugata</i> Species of moth

Orgyia pseudotsugata, the Douglas-fir tussock moth, is a moth of the subfamily Lymantriinae first described by James Halliday McDunnough in 1921. It is found in western North America. Its population periodically irrupts in cyclical outbreaks. The caterpillars feed on the needles of Douglas fir, true fir, and spruce in summer, and moths are on the wing from July or August to November.

Crambidia impura is a moth of the family Erebidae. It was described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1913. There are two disjunct populations. It has been recorded from southern Rocky Mountain states, the Yukon and northern British Columbia and Alberta. The habitat consists of stabilized sand dunes dominated by open jack pine forests.

<i>Ichneutica omoplaca</i> Species of moth

Ichneutica omoplaca is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is widespread from the Bay of Plenty in the North Island down to Southland in the South Island. Specimens have also been collected from the Auckland Islands. It lives in a variety of habitats including beech forest clearings and tussock grasslands. This species has been recorded that some of the larval hosts of this species include Poa cita, Dactylis glomerata and it has been reared on Plantago lanceolata. The larva is undescribed but pupae have been found in a pine plantation in soil under weeds. Adults of this species are on the wing from October to March. The adult moths are variable in appearance but the diagnostic feature is the pale ochreous to white colouring between the basal streak and the costa which contrasts with the ground colour of the forewing.

<i>Properigea albimacula</i> Species of moth

Properigea albimacula is a small to medium-sized moth in the family Noctuidae first described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1912. It is found in the western US on the slopes of Cascades north of Oregon and almost throughout California. The wingspan is about 15 mm. Adults fly during the summer and are most common during July. This species is nocturnal and comes to lights.

<i>Spilosoma vagans</i> Species of moth

Spilosoma vagans, the wandering diacrisia or wandering tiger moth, is a moth in the family Erebidae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1852. It is found in western North America, from southern California, southern Utah and central Colorado north to southern British Columbia and south-western Alberta. The habitat consists of drier forests, including open ponderosa pine forests and mixed hardwood-conifer forests.

<i>Protorthodes incincta</i> Species of moth

Protorthodes incincta, the banded Quaker moth, is a moth in the family Noctuidae. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded in the western Great Plains and dry open forests of the Rocky Mountain region, with range extensions into the Great Basin, the American Southwest, and eastward in relict prairie areas into the Great Lakes region.

<i>Acleris maximana</i> Species of moth

Acleris maximana is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae first described by William Barnes and August Busck in 1920. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Alberta, British Columbia, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Brunswick, North Carolina, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Saskatchewan, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.

Frechinia laetalis is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1914. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from eastern Washington and Oregon to Utah, southern California and western Texas.

<i>Ceranemota fasciata</i> Species of false owlet moth

Ceranemota fasciata is a moth in the family Drepanidae. It was described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1910. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from British Columbia to northern California. It is also present in coastal southern Alaska. The habitat consists of coastal rainforests, mixed hardwood forests and montane riparian areas.

Gynaephora rossii, in English known as Ross' tussock moth, is a species of tussock moth in the family Erebidae. It is widespread in the tundras and highlands of the Holarctic. It has large, furry caterpillars which seem to eat mostly saxifrages.

Dasychira dorsipennata, the sharp-lined tussock or hardwood tussock moth, is a species of tussock moth in the family Erebidae. It was first described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1919 and it is found in North America.

<i>Dasychira meridionalis</i> Species of moth

Dasychira meridionalis, the southern tussock moth, is a species of tussock moth in the family Erebidae. It was first described by William Barnes and James Halliday McDunnough in 1913, and it is found in North America.

<i>Ichneutica paracausta</i> Species of moth

Ichneutica paracausta is a moth of the family Noctuidae. This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found locally in the central North Island, is widespread in the South Island and can also be found in Stewart Island. I. paracausta is variable in colour, but as it has a distinctive black streak on its forewing as well as a wing pattern that is characteristic, I. paracausta is unlikely to be confused with other species. It is present on the North Island volcanic plateau as well as Little Bush Reserve in Hawkes Bay in the North Island as well as in tussock grassland, alpine and subalpine shrubland and in alpine forest. Larvae have been recorded as feeding on grasses, a pupa has been found in a cocoon under the bark of a tree and adult moths are on the wing from October to January.

References

  1. Entz, Chuck (September 8, 2015). "Species Dasychira vagans - Variable Tussock Moth - Hodges#8294". BugGuide. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  2. Pacific Northwest Moths