Page 390 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DISTRIBUTION
DIS TRIBUTION Mountains of western United States and northwestern Mexico
DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT
HABIT A T Pine forests
HABITAT
HOST PLANTS
HOST PLANTS
HOS T PLANT S Various species of pine (Pinus spp.)
NOTE
NOTE Periodic edible silkmoth caterpillar
TE
NO

CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERV
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but sometimes proli c enough to cause
TION S
A
T
TUS
A
signi cant defoliation

ADULT WINGSPAN
2¾–3⅞ in (70–98 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
2 in (65 mm)
COLORADIA PANDORA
PANDORA PINE MOTH
388
BLAKE, 1863

The Pandora Pine Moth caterpillar has a life cycle of two to ve
years. It hatches and feeds in the fall, becomes lethargic during
the winter, then feeds again until late June, when it descends
from the tree and burrows into the ground to pupate. It usually
remains there at least through the next winter, and sometimes
up to five years, before emerging as an adult during the
summer to reproduce. Adults are more commonly present
in alternating years, when they sometimes cause extensive
defoliation of pine trees.

The caterpillar of the Pandora Pine Moth is an important
The Pandora Pine Moth caterpillar is light food source for the Paiute people of California. The fully fed
reddish brown with four, white, longitudinal caterpillars found on the ground are gathered in great numbers,
stripes and densely covered with tiny, white
dots. Areas between the segments are black. roasted, washed, then dried and stored for up to two years. After
The entire body is sparsely covered with short,

fuzzy hairs and sti dorsal spines surrounded rehydration they are used for soups or nger food. There are
by rosettes of smaller spines that are mildly about ten species of pine moth in pine forests throughout Mexico
stinging. The head is reddish brown.
and the western United States.

Actual size