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I've not been able to positively
identify any of the above moths - they appear to be
hybrids of the Confused Haploa and Leconte's Haploa.
Arctiidae is a large and diverse family of moths
with around 11,000 species found all over the world,
with 6000 Neotropical species (Scoble 1995). This
family includes the groups commonly known as tiger
moths, which usually have bright colors, footmen,
which are usually more drab, lichen moths and wasp
moths.
Many of the caterpillars and adults are active
during the daytime. Common folklore has it that the
forthcoming severity of a winter can be predicted by
the amount of black on the Isabella tiger moth's
caterpillar, the most familiar
woolly bear
in North America; however the relative width of the
black band varies among instars, not according to
weather (Wagner 2005).
Isabella tiger
moths (Pyrrharctia isabella) overwinter in the
caterpillar stage. They can survive freezing at
moderate subzero temperatures by producing a
cryo-protectant chemical (Layne and Kuharsky 2000).
The larvae of another species, Phragmatobia
fuliginosa, may be found on snow seeking a place to
pupate.
Although they may be abundant, few species in this
family are of economic importance. Even the fall
webworm, an abundant and highly polyphagous
tree-feeding species that has spread from North
America to Asia and Europe, does no lasting damage
to healthy hosts. |