Cecropia moth

Hyalophora cecropia is a North American member of Saturniidae, the giant silk-moth family. [1]

Brown wings bear red-and-white crescents, largest on the hindwings, together with broad white and reddish bands. The densely hairy body is reddish anteriorly, and the abdomen has alternating red and white rings. [1]

Its range extends from Nova Scotia and Maine south to Florida and west to the Canadian and United States Rocky Mountains. [1]

Eggs are deposited in small groups on either surface of a host leaf. The usually five larval instars change markedly in appearance: the youngest larvae are black and gregarious, while later larvae are green with red-orange thoracic tubercles, yellow dorsal abdominal tubercles and pale blue lateral tubercles. The pupa is enclosed in a silk cocoon attached lengthwise to a stem or branch. [1]

Larvae use numerous woody hosts, including maples, birches, willows and cherries. Black cherry, Prunus serotina, supported the larvae deployed in the Massachusetts field experiment described below. [1][2]

A 1997 experiment in the understory of Cadwell Memorial Forest, Massachusetts, documented severe mortality from the introduced parasitoid fly Compsilura concinnata. Separate cohorts of the first three larval instars produced an estimated combined parasitoid mortality of about 81%. This result demonstrated a substantial local effect on a native moth outside the pest species targeted by biological control. [2]