Rosy Maple Moth (NPS Catoctin Mountain Park Butterflies and Moths) · iNaturalist (2024)

FAQs

Where can you find the rosy maple moth? ›

The rosy maple moth can be found across the eastern United States and in parts of adjacent regions of Canada. It lives in deciduous forests with abundant maples, its host (caterpillar food) plant. Occasionally, it will also lay its eggs on oak trees.

Sexually mature adult rosy maple moths emerge from pupae from mid-May through mid-July. Oviposition peaks in early July. Rosy maple moths are oviparous, and females lay eggs 24 hours after internal fertilization by the male.

Regardless of sex, the rosy maple moth is considered the smallest of the silk moths– adults are up to 2 inches across when wings are spread, and males are smaller than females. Rosy maple moth larvae have black stripes along their bodies and two black “horns” above their heads.

Life cycle. Individual rosy maple moths typically live for about two to nine months. Between hatching and adulthood, the species undergoes five instars. For moths with longer life spans, much of this time is spent as a pupa over the winter months.

Fun Fact Friday: an adult Rosy Maple Moth, an exceptionally rare species of moth almost exclusively found on the east coast of North America, doesn't have a mouth! As larvae and caterpillars, Rosy Maple Moths enjoy consuming the leaves of the maple tree, hence their name.

WHEN DO CLOTHES MOTHS EMERGE? Warmer winters, central heating and an increasing popularity of clothes made from natural fibres mean that clothes moths are now a year-long problem. There is, however, still a noticeable emergence in adult moths around April and May and a second wave in August and September.

The number of clothes moths grows whenever the seasons get warmer. This means you are more than likely to find them around the beginning of spring around April to May, and then dying down again around October.

The longest-living species of moth is the Gynaephora Groenlandica, or Arctic Wooly Bear Moth. This unique moth lives on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian arctic. Sometimes, the Wooly Bear Moth can have a lifespan that lasts up to 7 years.

Smoky Emeror moth: One of the rarest moths ever, only found in Mexico.

Do rosy maple moths eat as adults? ›

Dryocampa rubicunda

Males have bushier antennae than females. As the name implies, rosy maple moths mainly feed on Maples, particularly Red Maple, Silver Maple, and Sugar Maple. However, the adult moths do not eat.

Rosy maple moths are unable to hear. But evolution has equipped this moth's entire body to interact and interpret its surroundings, including their antennae, legs, palps – prongs coming out of the area where their mouth would be, and setae – tiny hairs which are their sense of touch.

The favorite host plant of Dryocampa rubicunda is maple, with sugar maple (Acer saccharum) yielding good result in captivity. Larvae of Dryocampa rubicunda are gregarious – they feed and travel in groups. However, in the later instars, the mature larvae become solitary.

The presence of the moth's preferred food source is also paramount. The moth life cycle for webbing clothes moths typically spans 65 to 90 days. Some moth species may live for 30 days, while for others, the immature stages alone take three months to complete.

Smoky Emeror moth: One of the rarest moths ever, only found in Mexico.

Rosy Maple Moth (Lepidoptera: butterflies, skippers and some moths of the Southern Tier of New York) · iNaturalist.