Ailanthus webworm

The Ailanthus Webworm (Atteva aurea) is an ermine moth found commonly in the United States.^[1][2] This small, colorful moth resembles a true bug or beetle when not in flight, but when in flight it resembles a wasp.^[3]

Ailanthus webworm
Atteva aurea feeding on Vernonia gigantea
Scientific 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

Host plants

The ailanthus webworm is hypothesized to be native to South Florida and the American tropics (as far South as Costa Rica), which contains their original larval host plants: Paradise Tree (Simarouba glauca) and Simarouba amara.^[4] It has since expanded its range to another host plant Ailanthus altissima.^[5]

The Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), originally from China, has expanded across the United States, and is widely considered an invasive species.^[6] Tree-of-Heaven is the host plant of several invasive species such as the Spotted Lanternfly^[7] and A. aurea is thought to have adapted to feed on and breed in it as well. This thought comes from the fact that it is in the same family of its original host plant (Simaroubaceae).^[5] This resulted in the expansion further North in the United States.^[5] This expansion of its range to nest in A. altissima is what resulted in its common name^[8] the Ailanthus Webworm Moth.

Ailanthus webworm in Ailanthus altissima tree

Climate

Originally found in the Southern U.S, the moth is commonly seen in summer throughout the continental US(although it has not reached the most Western States), and occasionally eastern Canada.^[9] This species appears to be either adapting to colder areas, or staying further north due to changing climates.^[9]

Life cycle

Larvae build nests on the host plant by pulling the leaves together around a network of webbing. They will then live there and consume the leaves of the host plant. Eggs are found individually, not in clusters, even though each web may contain many separate eggs.^[7] The caterpillars have a wide, light greenish-brown stripe down their backs and several thin, alternating white and olive-green stripes along their sides.^[10] 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.^[11] This can result in a communal web that has multiple generations and insects from all life stages.^[12] This is a result of the moths being gregarious, meaning that they live in communities.

Taxonomy

• 
  Atteva edithella, 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 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.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]}