Saddled prominent moth facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Saddled prominent moth |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Notodontidae
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| Genus: |
Heterocampa
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| Species: |
H. guttivitta
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| Binomial name | |
| Heterocampa guttivitta (Walker, 1855)
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The saddled prominent moth (scientific name: Heterocampa guttivitta) is a type of moth. It belongs to the Notodontidae family, which includes many interesting moths. You can find this moth across a large part of North America. It lives in many states in the United States and also in Canada.
This moth has been spotted in places like Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In Canada, it lives in New Brunswick and Ontario.
Contents
What Does the Saddled Prominent Moth Look Like?
The saddled prominent moth is a medium-sized moth. Its wingspan is about 40 millimeters (which is about 1.5 inches). That's roughly the length of a golf tee!
Adult Moths
Adult saddled prominent moths are usually brownish or greenish-grey. They often have white or black spots on their front wings. These colors help them blend in with tree bark or leaves.
Young Moths (Larvae)
The young moths are called larvae or caterpillars. They look quite different from the adults. These caterpillars are the ones that eat a lot of leaves!
Life Cycle of the Saddled Prominent Moth
The saddled prominent moth goes through a complete metamorphosis. This means it changes a lot during its life. It starts as an egg, hatches into a larva (caterpillar), then becomes a pupa, and finally an adult moth.
How Many Generations?
These moths usually have one generation each year. This means that the entire life cycle, from egg to adult, happens once in a year.
What Do the Larvae Eat?
The larvae of the saddled prominent moth are hungry eaters! They feed on the leaves of many different trees and plants.
- Apple trees
- Birch trees
- Blueberry bushes
- Dogwood trees
- Hazel trees
- Maple trees
- Oak trees
- Sumac plants
- Walnut trees
How Larvae Feed
When the larvae are very young (in their first two stages, called instars), they are quite small. They cling to silky mats they make on the underside of leaves. They "skeletonize" the leaf, which means they eat all the soft parts but leave the main veins.
As the larvae grow bigger (in later instars), they eat more. They feed on the outside of the leaf. At this stage, they eat almost all the leaf tissue, leaving only the biggest veins.
How They Survive Winter
The saddled prominent moth spends the winter as a pupa. A pupa is like a resting stage before it becomes an adult moth. The pupa stays inside a cocoon. This cocoon is usually buried in leaf litter on the ground. This helps protect it from the cold winter weather.
Gallery
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A saddled prominent moth larva
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Another view of the larva
Images for kids
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An adult saddled prominent moth
