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Moth of the Week
Garden Tiger Moth
Arctia caja
The garden tiger moth or great tiger moth is a moth of the family Erebidae. They were first described in 1758 by Charles Linnaeus. The caterpillars are known as “woolly bears.”
Description The forewings of this moth are brown with white patterning. This white pattern can be missing entirely. The hindwings are orange with black dots which also may vary from moth to moth due to chance and artificial reasons. French entomologist Charles Oberthür discovered about 500 different variation in patterns.
The patterns on the moth’s wings warn predators that they are toxic. The toxin in this species in part contains neurotoxic choline esters which interfere with the acetylcholine receptor.
The head is lined with red over dark brown and has white antennae while the thorax is a matching dark brown. The abdomen matches the hindwings with bright orange fur and black stripes.
Wingspan Range: 45 - 65 mm (1.8 to 2.6 in)
Diet and Habitat This species are called generalists, meaning they eat a wide variety of plants. That are known to eat plants in the Digitalis and Plantago genuses. These plants produce pyrrolizidine alkaloids, a common chemical that causes toxicity in moths. Adult moths eat nectar from flowers and have no observed preference.
They range from the northern United States and Canada to Europe and Northern and Central Asia. In Europe, it goes north until Lapland. They prefer cold, temperate climates and are found in the mountains of Tien Shan (up to an elevation of 3,000 m (9,800 ft)), grasslands, sand dunes, meadows, woodland edges, hedgerows, gardens, and forests. Because this species are generalists in diet, they are not confined to one habitat due to host plant locations.
Mating Females lay around 50 eggs on the underside of host plant leaves. Eggs hatch from August to September when the former generation has died. It has been observed that generations do not overlap.
Predators Adult moths use their wing patterns and colors to warn predators that they are inedible. Their diet allows them to gain toxins including neurotoxic choline esters which interfere with the acetylcholine receptor. The full effects of the toxins are not known. The adults are mostly preyed on by birds and bats. Another way the adults protect themselves from bats is to make noise with their wings which interferes with the bats’ behaviors.
However, several species of endoparasitic flies prey on the species as larva. These include: Carcelia gnava, Carcelia lucorum, Carcelia tibialis, Compsilura concinnata, Exorista fasciatax Exorista grandis, Hubneria affinis, Pales pavida, Thelaira leucozona, Thelaira nigripes, and Thelymorpha marmorata.
The larvas’ defense against outside forces is stinging hairs that cause hives and irritation in mammals, including humans. These hairs are not fatal.
Fun Fact The garden tiger moth has been a protected species since 2007 by the Biodiversity Action Plan in the United Kingdom.
(Source: Wikipedia, Butterfly Conservation, Moth Identification)