in Florida in 1966. Generally speaking, however, the species is most important as a 
pest of people, because of its poisonous spines (//4). There may be two generations 
per year in the more southerly portions of its range. Winter is spent as a pupa in a 
cocoon spun some place on the host tree. Handpicking larvae, wearing gloves, is a 
common control practice. The tachinid parasite, Carcelia lagoae (Townsend), is 
sometimes abundant in Texas infestations. 
The crinkled flannel moth, Lagoa crispata (Packard), occurs throughout the 
eastern half of the United States and feeds on a wide variety of plants, including 
oak, locust, birch, cherry, and apple. According to some reports, it occurs most 
commonly in the northern parts of its range; however, it has completely defoliated 
shin oak over several hundreds of hectares of rangeland in Texas. The adult is cream 
colored, with black wavy lines and brownish, crinkled hairs on the forewings. Full- 
grown larvae are oval and about 25 mm long. The body is covered with long, silky 
brown hairs that meet in the form of a ridge along the back and then slope off, 
rooflike, on each side. Winter is spent in the pupal stage in a cocoon. The cocoon is 
unique in being urn-shaped and having a flat, hinged, circular lid that is lifted as the 
moth emerges. The stings produced by spines on the larvae of this species appar- 
ently are less severe than those produced by related species (//4). 
Norape ovina Sepp feeds on redbud, silktree, and beech from New Jersey and 
southern Pennsylvania southward. The adult is a pure white moth with a small 
amount of crinkly hair. The larvae are spotted and sparsely clothed in tufts of hair. 
Family Limacodidae 
Slug Caterpillar Moths 
Limacodid larvae are sluglike in appearance. The head is concealed in the 
thorax, the thoracic legs are small, and the prolegs are replaced by sucking discs. 
Pupation occurs in dense, brownish, oval, silken cocoons spun between leaves or 
attached to twigs. Each cocoon has a hole covered by a lid at one end through which - 
the adult emerges. 
The saddleback caterpillar, Sibine stimulea (Clemens), is widely distributed in 
the Eastern and Southern United States and feeds on a wide variety of trees and 
ornamental plants. The larva is brownish except for a green patch, which resembles 
a saddlecloth, on the middle of the back. In the middle of this patch is an oval, 
purplish-brown, saddlelike spot. The body is armed along the sides with fascicles of 
poisonous spines, and has a pair of spiny tubercles at each end (fig. 65). 
Courtesy Conn. Agric. Exp. Stn. 
Figure 65.—Larvae of the saddleback caterpillar, 
Sibine stimulea. 
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