Hemileuca lucina

Description

Hemileuca lucina, the New England buck moth, is a species of moth in the family Saturniidae. This moth species is only found in the New England region of the United States. Larvae in early stages mainly feed on meadow-sweet whereas larvae in later stages show variation in food sources such as blackberry and black cherry leaves. Larvae have a black body with orange/black spines on their back that are used to deter predators. Pupation occurs during the summer and adult moths come out around September. Adult females are usually bigger than males. Both males and females have dark colored bodies and wide white bands on their wings that are similarly observed in their sister species, Hemileuca maia. The flight season for adult Hemileuca lucina is in September and it lasts around two weeks. Females secrete a pheromone to attract the males and once they pair up, they copulate for about one to two hours. Hemileuca lucina is univoltine, meaning that it has one brood per year. Females lay eggs on the twig of their host plants that look like a tightly packed ring. H. luncina larvae are subject to prey by wasps, stinkbugs, and certain types of spiders. The tachinid fly and ichneumonid wasp are parasites of caterpillars as well.