urbpan | More Urban Species: Eight-spotted Forester

Eight-spotted forester Alypia octomaculata

This pretty little animal confounds our expectations about moths. Everyone knows that moths are brownish things attracted to lights at night. Instead the eight-spotted forester is boldly colored with two white spots on each black wing, as well as tufts of orange 'fur' on the upper parts of the legs. Such bright colors and contrasting markings on an insect are usually taken to be a sign of unpalatability, but my research has turned up no mention of this for this moth. Often unpalatable lepitdopterans feed on toxic plants when young, such as the well-known monarch whose caterpillar grows up on a diet of milkweed. The eight-spot's caterpillar feeds on wholesome grape leaves, though the urban population is more likely to be brought up on Virginia creeper. In Boston and other northern ecosystems, the eight-spot emerges from its cocoon in May and breeds quickly to produce a generation which reaches adulthood in August. The second generation produces the caterpillars which then overwinter as pupae, beginning the cycle again in May.

Insect and Mite Pests of Grapes in Ohio and the Midwest
Ohio State University Department of Entomology
http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/grapeipm/eightspotted_forester.htm

Bug guide (which has its own list of good references)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/485

Garden Insects of North America by Whitney Cranshaw
Princeton University Press 2004
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7713.html