Malacosoma neustria

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Cladus: Macroheterocera
Superfamilia: Lasiocampoidea

Familia:Lasiocampidae
Subfamilia: Malacosominae
Genus: Malacosoma
Species: Malacosoma neustria
Name

Malacosoma neustria (Linnaeus, 1758)
Vernacular names
беларуская: Коканапрад кольчаты
English: Lackey moth
français: La livrée des arbres
日本語: オビカレハ
српски / srpski: Кукавичија суза

The lackey moth (Malacosoma neustria) is a moth in the family Lasiocampidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is common across southern Britain and central Europe. Malacosoma species are notable for their caterpillars which are brightly coloured and form silken tents to regulate their temperature. Malacosoma neustria caterpillars are brown with blue, orange and white stripes. The adults are a fairly uniform brown. The larvae feed mainly on trees and shrubs from within their tents.

Subspecies

Malacosoma neustria neustria
Malacosoma neustria flavescens Grünberg, 1912 (Morocco, Algeria)
Malacosoma neustria formosana Matsumura, 1932 (Taiwan)

Distribution and habitat

The lackey moth is widely distributed across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Its habitat is the edges of woodland, bushy grassland, coppices, hedgerows and road verges. The caterpillar's food plants include apple, pear, plum, willow, hornbeam, lime and oak.[1]
Life cycle

Eggs of the lackey moth are laid in ring-like bands in late summer on twigs of the host trees where they overwinter. On hatching, the larvae are gregarious and weave for themselves a silken canopy of webbing. They eat the young foliage of the tree and moult several times as they grow larger. When ready to pupate they drop to the ground and undergo metamorphosis, each forming a pupa sandwiched between leaves of plants growing beneath the tree. In both Britain and Germany the flight period is from June to August.[1]

References

Wagner, Wolfgang. "Malacosoma neustria (Linnaeus, 1758)". Lepidoptera and their Ecology. Retrieved 2014-02-07.