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 now found commonly in the United States.[1][2] It was formerly known under the scientific name Atteva punctella (see Taxonomy section). 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 through the American tropics (as far South as Costa Rica), which contains their original larval host plants: Paradise Tree (Simarouba glauca) and Simarouba amara.[4]

The Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), originally from China, has expanded across the United States, and is widely considered an invasive species.[5] A. aurea is thought to have adapted to feed on and breed in A. altissima, which is in the same family (Simaroubaceae), which resulted in the expansion further North in the United States.[6] This expansion of its range is what resulted in its common name.

Ailanthus webworm in Ailanthus altissima tree

Climate

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This tropical moth is commonly seen in summer throughout the continental US, and occasionally eastern Canada (its northern limit is eastern Ontario and south-western Quebec beyond the host range). This species appears to be either adapting to colder areas, or staying further north due to changing climates.[7]

Life cycle

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Larvae produce nests on the host plant by pulling two or more leaflets around a network of loose webbing. Then they consume the leaflets and bark. The caterpillars have a wide, light greenish-brown stripe down their backs and several thin, alternating white and olive-green stripes along their sides. 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. Due to this being a species from warmer areas, it lacks a diapause stage. Larvae can be found from mid-spring to a hard freeze. There may be many generations each summer with eggs being laid on the webs of other larvae. This can result in a communal web that has multiple generations - from eggs to various larva stages to pupae. Mating happens in the mornings with egg-laying apparently happening in the evening. Eggs are found individually, not in clusters, even though each web may contain many separate eggs.[8]

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.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

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. ^ 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
  6. ^ Frank, K. D. 2015. Chapter 6 In Ecology of Center City, Philadelphia. Fitler Square Press, pp.55-65
  7. ^ "Ailanthus Webworm Moth Atteva aurea (Cramer, 1781) | Butterflies and Moths of North America". www.butterfliesandmoths.org. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  8. ^ "Bugs in Orange and Black, Part I: An ermine moth, ailanthus webworm, Atteva aurea". Bug of the Week. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  9. ^ "Maryland Biodiversity Project - Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea)". www.marylandbiodiversity.com. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Covell, C. V. (1984). A field guide to the moths of Eastern North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 1–496.
  13. ^ Heppner, John B. (1984). "Yponomeutidae". In Heppner, John B. (ed.). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist, Part I. The Hague: W. Junk. pp. 55–56.
  14. ^ Feinstein, Julie. "The Ailanthus Webworm Moth". Retrieved 2019-06-01.