The orangestriped oakworm, A. senatoria (J. E. Smith), feeds on various oaks 
from eastern Canada to Georgia and westward to Minnesota, lowa, and Texas. It is 
rare in the Southeast. The adult has a wingspread of 37 to 50 mm, and its thick body 
is covered with yellowish-red hairs. The female (fig. 83A) looks like a small, 
faded, spiny oakworm, and the smaller, darker male has translucent areas in the 
forewings. The hindwings of the male are distinctly angular and only about two- 
thirds as long as the body. Full-grown caterpillars are black, with eight longitudinal 
orange-yellow stripes on the dorsum and sides; the larvae are about 40 mm long 
(fig. 83B). There is a pair of black, slender, stiff, erect, blunt, recurved spines on 
the second thoracic segment. Each succeeding segment bears a number of small, 
sharp, black spines. 
ea | Courtesy Conn. Agric. Exp. Stn. 
Figure 83.—The orangestriped oakworm, Anisota 
senatoria: A, adult and eggs; B, larva. 
In the North, adults appear during June or July and deposit their eggs in clusters 
of several hundred each on the undersides of leaves. Young larvae feed in groups on 
each side of the leaf, consuming everything but the veins. Older larvae are less 
gregarious and are often seen crawling around on lawns or the sides of houses, or 
feeding singly on the foliage of their host. During September or October, they crawl 
to the ground and often do considerable wandering in search of suitable places to 
pupate. Pupation takes place in the soil at a depth of 8 to 10 cm. There is one 
generation per year, possibly two in the South. This species has been responsible 
for a considerable amount of defoliation in oak stands in Connecticut, Missouri, 
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. A similar species, A. peigleri Riotte, occurs com- 
monly in the Piedmont of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia (fig. 84). 
The pinkstriped oakworm, A. virginiensis (Drury), occurs from southern Can- 
ada southward to Arkansas and Virginia. The larvae feed principally on various 
oaks, but also, perhaps, on many other hardwoods such as chestnut, hazel, maple, 
and birch. There is one generation per year. Adults (fig. 85) are yellow to reddish 
209 
