The Ailanthus Webworm ( Atteva aurea) is an ermine moth now found commonly in the United States.
Host plants
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.
The Tree-of-Heaven ( Ailanthus altissima), originally from China, has expanded across the United States, and is widely considered an invasive species.[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] 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.[Frank, K. D. 2015. Chapter 6 In Ecology of Center City, Philadelphia. Fitler Square Press, pp.55-65] This expansion of its range is what resulted in its common name.'' tree]]
Climate
This tropical moth is commonly seen in summer throughout the continental
United States, 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.
Life cycle
produce
on the
host plant by pulling two or more leaflets around a network of loose webbing. Then they consume the leaflets and bark. The
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
, is
Diurnality, 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.
==Taxonomy==
Wilson et al. (2010) discovered that morphologically similar
Attevidae moths were assigned two different names,
Atteva ergatica in Costa Rica and
Atteva punctella in North America, but had identical DNA barcodes.
