unknown caterpillar

Richard Worth rworth at oda.state.or.us
Thu Jan 18 12:49:12 EST 2001


Ernest, It sure looks to me like your friend found the Spotted
Tussock Moth.  It indeed is in the tiger moth family, Arctiidae.  The
scientific name is Lophocampa maculata and it does occur in NM.
 
Cheers,  Rich
 
 
>Ernest Williams wrote:
>
>  > Lep folks,
>  >
>  > Last fall, a friend in New Mexico saw a caterpillar that looks a lot
>  > like a woolly bear and he sent sent me a drawing of it.  He described
>  > it as "about the size of a woolly worm, and woolly, and they have a
>  > wide band in the middle, but it's yellow rather than orange.  The
>  > rest of the fur is black, but with lots of white whiskery bristles
>  > poking out."  His drawing is at:
>  > http://academics.hamilton.edu/biology/ewilliam/nicholscaterpillar.html
>  >
>  > If you know what it is, please let me know.  Many thanks.
>
>It indeed looks like a woolly bear (at least a couple tiger moth larvae
>bear this as a common name).  In drawing (as opposed to photographing)
>many of the details are lost, but even then, it looks very much like a
>tiger moth larva.  There are some that look like that in southern
>California.  Unfotunately, I don't recall the nomenclature.
 
Richard A. Worth
Oregon Department of Agriculture
Plant Division
rworth at oda.state.or.us
(503) 986-6461
 
 
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