What is this large white moth?

[DR. JAMES ADAMS]

Dear Chris and listers,
 
Chris Gurnick wrote:
> We recently had 2 large (at least 2 1/2 inches long each) moths mate, then
> lay very organized eggs on our white garage. The moths were both all white
> with black circles. Some of the circles were all black, but some of the
> other circles were not filled in. The eggs are  khaki- colored, and they
> were laid all in a row, with some other smaller rows on top of each other.
> I still don't know why the moths laid the eggs with no apparent foodstuffs
> available.
 
Sounds like a pair of Leopard Moths.  If you have Covell's Peterson
Field Guide to the moths of the Eastern U.S., check out Plate 16.
If you got a look at the body, the abdomen should have been shiny
bluish black with some orange down the middle.  Tiger Moths (the
family which the Leopard Moth [Hypercompe scribonia] is in) will
frequently lay eggs just about anywhere.  The larvae eat small
herbaceous plants, like plantain, dandelion, etc., and so are very
nomadic anyway.  If you want to rear them, they will typically do
very well on most of these plants, and even do pretty well if you
keep several in close contact -- they seem to deal with crowding
better than most larvae.   They will get big, however, and will
require a lot of food in the last instar, so you might want to try
rearing just a few.
 
              James
 
Dr. James K. Adams
Dept. of Natural Science and Math
Dalton State College
213 N. College Drive
Dalton, GA  30720
Phone: (706)272-4427; fax: (706)272-2533
U of Michigan's President James Angell's
  Secret of Success: "Grow antennae, not horns"