regalis is a midsummer moth, on wing from late June through August with larvae peaking August through October. There is a single generation of Citheronia regalis throughout its range, but in the deep south, moths have been recorded throughout the longer growing season. Because of this, they do not eat and only live for about a week as adults. Adults of this family of moths have vestigial mouths, meaning their mouthparts have been reduced. After the moths mate, the female spends the majority of the remainder of her life laying eggs, while the male may mate several more times. Males can fly for miles in order to reach a female. The females emit pheromones, which the male can detect through its large, plumose antennae. When the moths eclose (emerge), they have to pump their wings with fluid ( hemolymph) to extend them. Some pupae overwinter for two seasons, perhaps as an adaptation to variable and adverse conditions such as fires and flooding, or to maintain genetic diversity across generations. The pupae are dark brown/black in color, and have a relatively short cremaster. They then crawl down the host plant, where they burrow into the dirt and pupate in a well formed chamber at a depth of five to six inches. Just before pupation, the larva expels its gut and changes color from green to turquoise, the skin of the fully fed creature stretched shiny and tight. Hickory horned devil, larval stage of the regal moth showing the turquoise phase. Their frightening appearance is purely a ruse the spines, though prickly, do not sting, and the larva is harmless and actually one of the more easily handled of the saturniidae. They feed heavily on their host plant for 37 to 42 days and can grow up to 15 centimetres (5.9 in) long. Each instar is different, but on their fifth and final instar they become a bright green color, with huge, black-tipped red horns, earning them their common name hickory horned devils. The caterpillars are solitary nighttime feeders in early stages, when they curl up in a "j" shaped pattern during the day and resemble two-toned bird droppings.Īs the caterpillars age, they feed during the day. When the eggs hatch 7 to 10 days later, small yellow larvae that darken rapidly emerge. The list of recorded hosts includes Carya (including Carya illinoensis), Juglans cinerea, Liquidambar styraciflua, Diospyros virginiana, Rhus, Gossypium, and others. Larvae are solitary in later stages and rarely occur in numbers large enough to cause defoliation however, an individual larva can strip several branches of their leaves during the ravenous fifth instar. There are regional preferences, with the utilization of sweet gum and persimmon in the south, and sumacs where the others are not available. They are laid either singly or in groups of up to four on the upper surface of the host plant leaves, favoring nut trees such as Juglans and Carya (walnuts and hickories). Its eggs are yellowish, oval and 2 mm in diameter. It burrows into the ground to pupate in an earthen chamber, rather than spinning a cocoon. The life cycle of the moth is typical of the Saturniidae species, and typical of the Ceratocampinae. The adult moth is the largest moth by mass in latitudes north of Mexico, as are the spectacular larva and the substantial pupa. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793. The caterpillars are called hickory horned devils. Citheronia regalis, the regal moth or royal walnut moth, is a North American moth in the family Saturniidae.
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