Ailanthus webworm

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Ailanthus webworm
Atteva aurea feeding on Vernonia gigantea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Attevidae
Genus: Atteva
Species:
A. aurea
Binomial name
Atteva aurea
(Fitch, 1856)
Synonyms
  • Deiopeia aurea Fitch, 1857
  • Poeciloptera compta Clemens, 1861
  • Oeta aurera Stretch, 1873 (misspelling)
  • Oeta compta var. floridana Neumoegen, 1891
  • Atteva edithella Busck, 1908
  • Atteva exquisita Busck, 1912
  • Atteva ergatica Walsingham, 1914
  • Atteva microsticta Walsingham, 1914

The Ailanthus Webworm (Atteva aurea) is an ermine moth found commonly in the United States.[1][2] This small, colorful moth resembles a true bug or beetle when not in flight, but when in flight it resembles a wasp.[3]

Host plants

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The ailanthus webworm is hypothesized to be native to South Florida and the American tropics (as far South as Costa Rica), which contains their original larval host plants: Paradise Tree (Simarouba glauca) and Simarouba amara.[4] It has since expanded its range to another host plant Ailanthus altissima.[5]

The Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), originally from China, has expanded across the United States, and is widely considered an invasive species.[6] Tree-of-Heaven is the host plant of several invasive species such as the Spotted Lanternfly[7] and A. aurea is thought to have adapted to feed on and breed in it as well. This thought comes from the fact that it is in the same family of its original host plant (Simaroubaceae).[5] This resulted in the expansion further North in the United States.[5] This expansion of its range to nest in A. altissima is what resulted in its common name[8] the Ailanthus Webworm Moth.

Ailanthus webworm in Ailanthus altissima tree

Climate

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Originally found in the Southern U.S, the moth is commonly seen in summer throughout the continental US(although it has not reached the most Western States), and occasionally eastern Canada.[9] This species appears to be either adapting to colder areas, or staying further north due to changing climates.[9]

Life cycle

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Larvae build nests on the host plant by pulling the leaves together around a network of webbing. They will then live there and consume the leaves of the host plant. Eggs are found individually, not in clusters, even though each web may contain many separate eggs.[7] The caterpillars have a wide, light greenish-brown stripe down their backs and several thin, alternating white and olive-green stripes along their sides.[10] The range of colors is from light brown to dark black. The adult moth visits flowers, is diurnal, and is a pollinator. The life cycle from egg to egg can happen in four weeks.[11] This can result in a communal web that has multiple generations and insects from all life stages.[12] This is a result of the moths being gregarious, meaning that they live in communities.

Taxonomy

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  • Atteva edithella, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea
    Atteva edithella, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea
  • Atteva exquisita, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea
    Atteva exquisita, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea
  • Atteva ergatica, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea
    Atteva ergatica, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea
  • Atteva microsticta, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea
    Atteva microsticta, now considered a synonym of Atteva aurea

Wilson et al. (2010) discovered that morphologically similar Attevid moths were assigned two different names, Atteva ergatica in Costa Rica and Atteva punctella in North America, but had identical DNA barcodes.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

References

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  1. ^ "Ailanthus Webworm - blandy". blandy.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  2. ^ "Species Atteva aurea - Ailanthus Webworm Moth - Hodges#2401 - BugGuide.Net". bugguide.net. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  3. ^ "Ailanthus Webworm Moth". www.insectidentification.org. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  4. ^ "Ailanthus Webworms and a Nod Towards Spotted Lanternfly". bygl.osu.edu. 2022-08-31. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  5. ^ a b c Frank, K. D. 2015. Chapter 6 In Ecology of Center City, Philadelphia. Fitler Square Press, pp.55-65
  6. ^ Huebner, C. D., & Wickert, K. (2024). Ailanthus (<em>Ailanthus altissima</em>). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. https://doi.org/10.2737/sna.ailanthus.altissima
  7. ^ a b "Bugs in Orange and Black, Part I: An ermine moth, ailanthus webworm, Atteva aurea". Bug of the Week. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  8. ^ Farley, Jeanine (2024-09-21). "Eating from trees that reproduce uncontrollably, the Ailanthus webworm moth is itself an oddity". Cambridge Day. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  9. ^ a b "Ailanthus Webworm Moth Atteva aurea (Cramer, 1781) | Butterflies and Moths of North America". www.butterfliesandmoths.org. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  10. ^ "Minnesota Seasons - ailanthus webworm moth". www.minnesotaseasons.com. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  11. ^ "Atteva aurea (Ailanthus Webworm Moth)". Edgewater Glen Native Plant Gardening & Wildlife. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  12. ^ "Ailanthus Webworm Moth". Missouri Department of Conservation. Archived from the original on 2025-05-19. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  13. ^ "Maryland Biodiversity Project - Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea)". www.marylandbiodiversity.com. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  14. ^ Wilson, John James; Landry, Jean-François; Janzen, Daniel; Hallwachs, Winnie; Nazari, Vazrick; Hajibabaei, Mehrdad; Hebert, Paul (2010). "Identity of the ailanthus webworm moth (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae), a complex of two species: evidence from DNA barcoding, morphology and ecology". ZooKeys (46): 41–60. doi:10.3897/zookeys.46.406.
  15. ^ Heppner, John B.; Duckworth, W. D. (1983). "Yponomeutidae". In Hodges, Ronald W.; Dominick, T.; Davis, Donald R.; Ferguson, D. C.; Franclemont, J. G.; Munroe, Eugene G.; Powell, Jerry A. (eds.). Check list of the Lepidoptera of America North of México. London: Classey. pp. 26–27.
  16. ^ Covell, C. V. (1984). A field guide to the moths of Eastern North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 1–496.
  17. ^ Heppner, John B. (1984). "Yponomeutidae". In Heppner, John B. (ed.). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist, Part I. The Hague: W. Junk. pp. 55–56.
  18. ^ Feinstein, Julie. "The Ailanthus Webworm Moth". Retrieved 2019-06-01.