Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Wooly black bristled caterpillars?

Like many moths, the female Giant Leopard Moth produces pheromones from a gland at the tip of her abdomen. These potent chemicals carry on the wind and are detected by antennae on the male, who follows the scent to his prospective mate. After copulation, the female lays her eggs on a wide variety of host plants--including violets, plantains, dandelion, cherries, maples, and willows whose leaves are eaten by her larvae--and probably dies soon thereafter, while the male my seek another mate. Fertile eggs develop and hatch within days, after which the larvae dine on leaves of their respective host plants and go through several growth stages in which they must molt their restrictive outer skins. To our knowledge, adult Giant Leopard Moths do not eat and spend their short lives reproducing

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