Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Ce­cropia moths (Hyalophora ce­cropia) are a Nearc­tic species with a wide range that ex­tends through­out the east­ern half of the United States and the south­ern Canada. In Canada, they can be found as far north as the 50th par­al­lel and as far east as Nova Sco­tia. In the United States, ce­cropia moths can be found as far south as the 27th par­al­lel in cen­tral Texas and Florida. Rare sight­ings of these moths have also been re­ported through­out the west­ern half of the United States. (GBIF, 2022)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Across their wide range, ce­cropia moths are found in tem­per­ate forests in rural to urban areas on younger hard­wood trees. They are found in back­yards, or­chards, fencerows, new hous­ing de­vel­op­ments, and wood­land areas. Bouse­man and Stern­burg (2002) state that while some ce­cropia moth co­coons can be found on the branches of de­cid­u­ous trees, most are found under them in tufts of grass or shrubs. This is thought to help ce­cropia moths avoid pre­da­tion. El­e­va­tion is not recorded for this species. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Mar­shall, 2006; Wag­ner, 2005)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest

• Other Habitat Features
• urban
• suburban
• agricultural

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Lar­vae of ce­cropia moths start out as mot­tled brown eggs, and when they emerge the lar­vae are black and weigh ap­prox­i­mately 3.7mg, the first time they molt they be­come yel­low with black and spiny scoli. From the third to fifth phase of molt­ing, or in­star, the lar­vae are pale green with or­ange or red pairs of scoli on the meta and mesotho­racic seg­ments, with blue lat­eral and yel­low dor­sal and ven­tral scoli along the rest of the body. Fully grown lar­vae will reach a length of around 100mm and a weight of ap­prox­i­mately 10.2g - a 2760-fold in­crease in size. (Bea­dle and Leckie, 2012; Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Guerra and Rep­pert, 2017; Leckie and Bea­dle, 2018; Stamp and Casey, 1993)

The lar­vae spins a two-lay­ered brown silk co­coon with the space be­tween filled with silk; each layer con­tains an exit valve fac­ing sky­ward and ori­ented per­pen­dic­u­lar to the hor­i­zon­tal plane. The outer layer of the co­coon is spun in one of two dis­tinct forms: baggy or tight. Lab tests show that en­vi­ron­men­tal fac­tors do not de­ter­mine whether a lar­vae will spin one or the other, and that both con­tain the same amount of silk. Guerra and Rep­pert (2017) state that there is no known clear rea­son for the two types of co­coons, but the­o­rize it to be a strat­egy to wager for the un­known con­di­tions of the next win­ter. (Bea­dle and Leckie, 2012; Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Guerra and Rep­pert, 2017; Leckie and Bea­dle, 2018)

Adult ce­cropia moths are very large with a broad wingspan of 110 to 180mm. The base wing color is black with white scales dis­persed within. Each wing has a white, some­times red­dish, cres­cent eye­spot. The base of the forewing is red with a white band fol­lowed by a black band in the mid­dle of it. The wing mar­gins are a khaki color, and the tip of the forewing has a pur­ple smear with a black spot next to it. Be­tween the eye­spots and mar­gins of both wings is a white then red band. Both sexes are sim­i­lar in color with hairy bod­ies that are rusty red with white bands. Adults of this species lack mouth­parts. (Bea­dle and Leckie, 2012; Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Leckie and Bea­dle, 2018)

For all mem­bers of the Fam­ily Sat­urni­idae, the cu­bi­tus in the forewing, or fifth lon­gi­tu­di­nal vein, branches into three veins that con­tinue to the edge of the wing. While the hind­wing only has one anal vein, and the angle of the first three veins de­vi­ates from base of the wing. Mem­bers of this fam­ily also have a small or ves­ti­gial frenu­lum, or bris­tle that holds the wings to­gether. (Bea­dle and Leckie, 2012; Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Leckie and Bea­dle, 2018)

The only dis­cern­able dif­fer­ence be­tween sexes of ce­cropia moths is the size of the an­ten­nae: males have much larger quadripecti­nate an­ten­nae than fe­males, this helps the males de­tect pheromones pro­duces by the fe­males. (Bea­dle and Leckie, 2012; Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Leckie and Bea­dle, 2018)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike
• ornamentation

• Average mass

  10.2 g

  0.36 oz

• Range length

  100 (high) mm

  3.94 (high) in

• Range wingspan

  110 to 180 mm

  4.33 to 7.09 in

De­vel­op­ment

Ce­cropia moths begin their de­vel­op­ment as mot­tled brown eggs. When they hatch, the lar­vae are black. At the first molt (in­star) they be­come yel­low with spiny black struc­tures called scoli. From the third to fifth in­stars, the lar­vae are pale green with or­ange or red pairs of scoli on the meta- and mesotho­racic seg­ments, with blue lat­eral and yel­low dor­sal and ven­tral scoli along the rest of the body. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Guerra and Rep­pert, 2017; Stamp and Casey, 1993; Tuskes, et al., 1996; Wag­ner, 2005)

Dur­ing the fifth in­star, the silk glands grow and start syn­the­siz­ing silk. They will stop eat­ing and begin spin­ning a dou­ble-walled co­coon. The lar­vae molt a final time into pupae. The pupae enter di­a­pause to halt their de­vel­op­ment to sur­vive win­ter. The pupae re­quire eight to ten weeks at tem­per­a­tures below 15°C to con­di­tion them­selves to emerge at the cor­rect time as adults; 5-20% of pupa will exit di­a­pause and begin de­vel­op­ment as soon as tem­per­a­tures warm, the re­main­ing pupa re­quire a month or more of warm temps to begin de­vel­op­ment. The ma­ture adults emerge from their co­coons be­fore search­ing for a mate. Adults do not eat, in­stead sur­viv­ing on fat stores for one to two weeks until they ex­pire. (Cov­ell, 2005; Guerra and Rep­pert, 2017; Stamp and Casey, 1993; Tuskes, et al., 1996; Wag­ner, 2005)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis
• diapause

Re­pro­duc­tion

Ce­cropia moths are polyg­y­nous; fe­male moths will mate with the first male that reach them while the males mate with mul­ti­ple fe­males. The fe­male moths emerge from the co­coon with a full set of ma­ture eggs and will wait until a few hours be­fore dawn to re­lease pheromones. After three days fe­males lay eggs in groups be­tween two and ten. Male ce­cropia moths use large quadripecti­nate an­ten­nae to fol­low pheromone trails up­wind in a zig-zag pat­tern until they find a mate. Once males find a mate, cop­u­la­tion be­gins with­out courtship. A pair can mate for 24 hours un­less dis­turbed, but usu­ally from morn­ing to evening, when the pair sep­a­rates and the fe­males begin search­ing for host plants to de­posit eggs. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Hane­gan and Heath, 1970; Lees and Zilli, 2019; Rid­di­ford and Ashednhurst, 1973)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Ce­cropia moth fe­males breed once dur­ing their short time as adults. Three days after emerg­ing from their co­coons, in ei­ther May or late June-early July, the adult fe­male moths will begin lay­ing eggs to save en­ergy and re­duce carry weight. After mat­ing, the fe­male will begin lay­ing fer­tile egg clutches on the leaves of host plants. The fe­males will lay on av­er­age 300 eggs (range 80-400), lay­ing 36% of their eggs the first day, then lay­ing a smaller per­cent of eggs every day for the next few days. The eggs hatch with an av­er­age weight of 3.7mg and are im­me­di­ately in­de­pen­dent. Both sexes reach adult­hood after 11-13 months after hatch­ing. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Rau and Rau, 1913; Stamp and Casey, 1993; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• oviparous
• sperm-storing
• delayed fertilization

• Breeding interval

  Cecropia moths breed once then die

• Breeding season

  One week in either May or late June-early July

• Range eggs per season

  80 to 400

• Average eggs per season

  300

• Average time to independence

  0 minutes

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  11 to 13 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  11 to 13 months

Male ce­cropia moths do not pro­vide parental care be­yond the act of mat­ing. Fe­male ce­cropia moths do not pro­vide parental care be­yond egg-lay­ing of small clutches on host plants over a broad area. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Ce­cropia moths are a uni­vol­tine species with a sin­gle gen­er­a­tion per year. The lar­vae have a bi­modal emer­gence that is not re­pro­duc­tively iso­lated; some of the eggs will hatch up to two months later than oth­ers in the same clutch. The moths reach adult­hood after 11-13 months after hatch­ing and typ­i­cally live for 10 days (range 5-12 days). There is no known dif­fer­ence in lifes­pan in cap­tiv­ity. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

Lim­it­ing fac­tors of the ce­cropia moth lifes­pan in­clude fun­gal, bac­te­ria, and viral in­fec­tions. Fun­gal in­fec­tions typ­i­cally occur dur­ing in­ac­tive pe­ri­ods such as di­a­pause or molt­ing, quickly suf­fo­cat­ing the moth. Mass ap­pli­ca­tions of the bac­terium, Bacil­lus thuringien­sis, used to sup­press pest cater­pil­lars, can in­ad­ver­tently cause high mor­tal­ity in non­tar­get lep­i­dopteran species. Lastly, in­fec­tions from nu­clear poly­he­dro­sis and gran­u­lo­sis viruses have been re­ported in mem­bers of the genus. (Tuskes, et al., 1996)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  11 to 13 months

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  11 to 13 months

Be­hav­ior

Ce­cropia moths are in­sects whose be­hav­ior is de­fined by a yearly cycle sep­a­rated into its four stages of de­vel­op­ment: egg, larva, pupa, and adult­hood. The motile stages are mostly noc­tur­nal and cre­pus­cu­lar, but some­times di­ur­nal. The life of ce­cropia moths be­gins in late spring or early sum­mer as seden­tary eggs on a leaf of a host plant. The eggs hatch in a clutch of two to ten lar­vae that feed to­gether until the sec­ond in­star (phase) when the lar­vae be­come soli­tary for the rest of their lives. The lar­val stage is spent climb­ing and eat­ing a host tree or shrub, grow­ing, and molt­ing through five in­stars. Dur­ing the fifth in­star the lar­vae spin co­coons and molt into a pupa, which enter di­a­pause to halt de­vel­op­ment dur­ing win­ter. Bouse­man and Stern­burg (2002) state that ce­cropia moths have a bi­modal emer­gence: 5 to 20% of pupae emerge once tem­per­a­tures warm and they be­come adults in May, while the re­main­ing 80 to 95% re­quire an­other month of warm tem­per­a­tures to de­velop, emerg­ing in late June and early July. The adults emerge from their co­coons in late morn­ing and ex­pand their wings to fly. Males spend most of the adult stage fly­ing in search of a mate, and fe­males spend most of the adult stage fly­ing in search of new host plants and lay­ing eggs. The adult stage lasts ap­prox­i­mately ten days (range 5 to 12). (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Guerra and Rep­pert, 2017; Hane­gan and Heath, 1970; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• flies
• diurnal
• nocturnal
• crepuscular
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary
• social

Home Range

The home range of the lar­val stage of ce­cropia moths are lim­ited to a sin­gle host plant or ad­ja­cent plants, though the area they use has not been quan­ti­fied. Adults ce­cropia moths don't have a home range or de­fend a ter­ri­tory; they typ­i­cally live for 10 days (range 5-12 days), and can travel and far as 78 km and 42 km for males and fe­males, re­spec­tively. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Hane­gan and Heath, 1970)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Like all mem­bers of the sat­urni­idae fam­ily, ce­cropia moths use vi­sion, touch, taste, and smell to per­ceive their sur­round­ings, and pri­mar­ily use their sense of smell and pheromones to com­mu­ni­cate. After emerg­ing from their co­coons and wait­ing until after dusk, fe­males stay put and re­lease pheromones, while males will use their large and feath­er­like an­ten­nae to seek out fe­males by fly­ing up­wind in a zig-zag pat­tern be­fore di­rectly hom­ing in on a fe­male. In gen­eral, moth pheromones com­prise of al­co­hols, alde­hy­des, or ac­etates, yet the com­po­si­tion of sat­urniid moth pheromones is not well un­der­stood. Closely re­lated moths will use sim­i­lar pheromone mol­e­cules but use a unique ratio of those mol­e­cules to iden­tify mem­bers of their species. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Mar­shall, 2006; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

• Communication Channels
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Ce­cropia moth lar­vae are polyphagous fo­li­vores that feed on the leaves of a large va­ri­ety of de­cid­u­ous trees and shrubs. The plants they con­sume in­clude ap­ples (Malus), ashes (Frax­i­nus), beeches (Fagus), birches (Be­tula), cher­ries (Prunus), dog­woods (Cor­nus), maples (Acer), larch (Larix), poplars (Pop­u­lus), and wil­lows (Salix). The short-lived adults sur­vive off fat stores and have no need for mouth­parts. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Cov­ell, 2005; Wag­ner, 2005)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves

Pre­da­tion

Most ce­cropia moth lar­vae do not reach adult­hood and fall prey to many species. Over 75% of lar­vae are eaten be­fore they reach the late in­stars. In­ver­te­brate preda­tors in­clude spi­ders (Order Araneae), wasps (Order Hy­menoptera), and true bugs (Order Hemiptera). Dur­ing the win­ter ca. 90% of co­coons on trees are eaten by downy wood­peck­ers (Dry­obates vil­lo­sus) and hairy wood­peck­ers (Dry­obates pu­bes­cens), who use their beaks to poke a hole through the co­coon and suck out the soft tis­sues. Black-capped chick­adees (Parus atr­i­capil­lus) also have been re­ported to cut open co­coons and con­sume con­tents. Co­coons spun on shrubs show an over 80% sur­vival rate, as they pro­vide more con­ceal­ment for the in­sects. East­ern gray squir­rels (Sci­u­rus car­o­li­nen­sis) eat the pupae, and in rural areas white-footed mice (Per­omyscus leu­co­pus) eat the pupae in these co­coons spun close to the ground. To avoid pre­da­tion, ce­cropia moth lar­vae pos­sess bright and spiny scoli that may deter preda­tors, but lar­vae rely pri­mar­ily on their green col­oration to stay hid­den among leaves and will re­main mo­tion­less when dis­turbed. Adults have eye­spots on their wings that re­sem­ble ver­te­brate eyes. When dis­turbed, they will dis­play them to deter preda­tors. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Tuskes, et al., 1996; Wag­ner, 2005; Wald­bauer and Stern­burg, 1967; Young, 1982)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus)
  • hairy woodpecker (Dryobates villosus)
  • downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)
  • black-capped chickadee (Parus atricapillus)
  • eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
  • spiders (Order Araneae)
  • wasps (Order Hymenoptera)
  • true bugs (Order Hemiptera)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Ce­cropia moths con­vert plant chem­i­cal en­ergy into food for preda­tory species such as spi­ders, in­sects, ro­dents, and birds.

Ce­cropia moths are known hosts of com­mon en­dopar­a­sites of sat­urniid moths in­clud­ing ta­chinid flies (Comp­sil­ura concin­nata), bra­conid wasps (Cote­sia), ich­neu­monid wasps (Fam­ily Ich­neu­monidae), and chal­cid wasps (Su­per­fam­ily Chal­ci­doidea). Ce­cropia moths have also been re­ported to have been in­fected by fun­gal mi­crosporidia from the gen­era Th­elo­ha­nia and Nosema. (Boet­tner, et al., 2000; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Ce­cropia moths are a com­mon model species in lab­o­ra­tory and field re­search, and often brought into class­rooms for learn­ing. Ce­cropia moths are easy to raise and mate in cap­tiv­ity if given plenty of host plant ma­te­r­ial. In ad­di­tion, the co­coons of the species are easy to iden­tify and col­lect in areas of human de­vel­op­ment. (Bouse­man and Stern­burg, 2002; Pow­ell and Opler, 2009; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

• Positive Impacts
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known neg­a­tive eco­nomic ef­fects of ce­cropia moths on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ce­cropia moths are ei­ther not eval­u­ated or have no spe­cial sta­tus on the IUCN Red list, US Fed­eral List, CITES, or the State of Michi­gan List.

Threats to ce­cropia moths in­clude urban de­vel­op­ment, the use of pest con­trol on or­na­men­tal trees and shrubs, and the in­tro­duc­tion of par­a­sitoid species such as the ta­chinid fly (Comp­sil­ura concin­nata). Boet­tner et al. (2000) state that anec­do­tal de­scrip­tions from the 19th cen­tury by col­lec­tors de­scribe local pop­u­la­tion den­si­ties of ce­cropia moths much higher than found today, sug­gest­ing the use of DDT, the de­cline of host trees, and mer­cury lamps as cul­prits.

There are no known con­ser­va­tion ef­forts to pre­serve ce­cropia moths as pop­u­la­tions are con­sid­ered sta­ble. The erad­i­ca­tion of DDT and ef­forts in for­est re­gen­er­a­tion un­doubtably im­pact these moths in a pos­i­tive man­ner. (Boet­tner, et al., 2000; Tuskes, et al., 1996)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Elias Vance (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Can­dice Amick (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Kather­ine Gor­man (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

Bea­dle, D., S. Leckie. 2012. Pe­ter­son Field Guide to Moths of North­east­ern North Amer­ica. New York, New York: Houghton Mif­flin Har­court.

Boet­tner, G., J. Elk­in­ton, B. Boet­tner. 2000. Ef­fects of a bi­o­log­i­cal con­trol in­tro­duc­tion on three non­tar­get na­tive species of Sat­urniid moths. Con­ser­va­tion Bi­ol­ogy, 14/6: 1798-1806.

Bor­ror, D., R. White. 1970. Pe­ter­son Field Guides In­sects. New York, New York: Houghton Mif­flin Com­pany.

Bouse­man, J., J. Stern­burg. 2002. Field Guide to Silk­moths of Illi­nois. Cham­paign Illi­nois: Illi­nois Nat­ural His­tory Sur­vey.

Cov­ell, C. 2005. A Field Guide to the Moths of East­ern North Amer­ica. Mar­tinsville, Vir­ginia: Vir­ginia Mu­seum of Nat­ural His­tory.

GBIF, S. 2022. "Hyalophora ce­cropia Lin­naeus, 1758" (On-line). gbif.​org. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 02, 2023 at https://​www.​gbif.​org/​species/​1865839.

Guerra, P., S. Rep­pert. 2017. Di­mor­phic co­coons of the ce­cropia moth (Hyalophora ce­cropia): Mor­pho­log­i­cal, be­hav­ioral, and bio­phys­i­cal dif­fer­ences. PLoS ONE, 12/3: e0174023. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 09, 2023 at 10.1371/journal.​pone.0174023.

Hane­gan, J., J. Heath. 1970. Ac­tiv­ity pat­terns and en­er­get­ics of the moth, Hyalophora ce­cropia. The Jour­nal of Ex­per­i­men­tal Bi­ol­ogy, 53/3: 611-27.

Leckie, S., D. Bea­dle. 2018. Pe­ter­son Field Guide to Moths of South­east­ern North Amer­ica. New York, New York: Houghton Mif­flin Har­court.

Lees, D., A. Zilli. 2019. Moths Com­plete Guide to Bi­ol­ogy and Be­hav­ior. Wash­ing­ton, DC: Smith­son­ian Books.

Mar­shall, S. 2006. In­sects Their Nat­ural His­tory and Di­ver­sity. Buf­falo, New York: Fire­fly Books Ltd.

Ne­chols, J., P. Tauber. 1982. Ther­mal re­quire­ments for post­di­a­pause de­vel­op­ment and sur­vival in the giant silk­worm, Hyalophora ce­cropia (Lep­i­doptera: Sat­urni­idae). Jour­nal of the New York En­to­mo­log­i­cal So­ci­ety, 90/4: 252-257.

Pow­ell, J., P. Opler. 2009. Moths of West­ern North Amer­ica. Berke­ley, Cal­i­for­nia: Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia Press.

Rau, P., N. Rau. 1913. The fer­til­ity of ce­cropia eggs in re­la­tion to the mat­ing pe­riod. Bi­o­log­i­cal Bul­letin, 24/4: 245-250.

Rid­di­ford, L., J. Ashednhurst. 1973. The switchover from vir­gin to mated be­hav­ior in fe­male ce­cropia moths: The role of the bursa cop­u­la­trix. Bi­o­log­i­cal Bul­letin, 144/1: 162-171.

Stamp, N., T. Casey. 1993. Cater­pil­lars Eco­log­i­cal and Evo­lu­tion­ary Con­straints on For­ag­ing. New York, New York: Chap­man and Hall.

Tuskes, P., J. Tut­tle, C. Michael. 1996. The Wild Silk Moths of North Amer­ica. Ithaca, New York: Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity Press.

Wag­ner, D. 2005. Cater­pil­lars of East­ern North Amer­ica: A Guide to Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion and Nat­ural His­tory. Prince­ton, New Jer­sey: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Wald­bauer, G., J. Stern­burg. 1967. Dif­fer­en­tial pre­da­tion of co­coons of the Hyalophora ce­cropia (Lep­i­doptera: Sat­urni­idae) spun on shrubs and trees. Ecol­ogy, 48/2: 312-315.

Wald­bauer, G., J. Stern­burg. 1979. In­breed­ing de­pres­sion and a be­hav­ioral mech­a­nism for its avoid­ance in Hyalophora ce­cropia. The Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, 102/1: 204-208.

Young, A. 1982. Pre­da­tion on the pupae of Sat­urni­idae (Lep­i­doptera) by gray squir­rels in Wis­con­sin. Great Lakes En­to­mol­o­gist, 15/2: 145.