ANISOTA OF THE WORLD

Anisota assimilis. Photo by Leroy Simon.

ANISOTA Hubner, [1820]

Males of this genus have quadripectinate antennae, are generally smaller than the females, and tend to be diurnal, resembling bees in flight due to a relatively large hyaline area on the forewing.

Most species occur in the southeastern United States, but a few occur further west and into Mexico.

The females have simple ciliate antennae and tend to nocturnally oviposit clusters of 15-50 yellow-orange ova on various oak species.

Both sexes have a characteristic white discal spot on the forewing.

Eggs are translucent and yellow to orange and larvae become visible through the shell just prior to emergence.

Larvae of these "oakworms" are highly gregarious especially in the early instars, and are regarded as pests when there are "population explosions". Except for finlaysoni, final instar larvae have a pair of well developed thoracic scoli on the second thoracic segment.

Anisota senatoria, courtesy of Wasil,
Forsyth County, NC in the vicinity of Winston-Salem, August 23, 2003.

Winter diapause is in the pupal stage in shallow (up to four inches deep), loosely constructed underground chambers.

Anisota assimilis M: 41-46mm; F: 48-50mm lacks black areas (veins, am/pm lines) of dissimilis lacks speckling of punctata Mexico: Chihuahua; Sonora; Durango Belize

Anisota consularis M: 29-36mm; F: 42-52mm lighter brown than virginiensis weak hyaline area weak sprinkling of black dots throughout Florida; eastern Georgia; South Carolina; coastal areas of Alabama; Mississippi; Lousiana

Anisota dissimilis M: 31-36mm; F: 60-66mm black veins and lines Mexico: Durango; Hidalgo; Federal Distirct; Puebla; Veracruz; Jalisco; Oaxaca; Chiapas; Belize Guatemala: Sacatepequez

Anisota finlaysoni M: 29-36mm; F: 44-54mm lighter yellow-brown compared to orangey brown of senatoria northeastern shore of Lake Ontario, Ontario (Toronto to Kingston), Canada

Anisota kendallorum M: 38-47mm; F: 51-69mm montane species very similar to assimilis fw pm line is reddish no black scales on ventral hw Mexico: Chiapas; Oaxaca Belize

Anisota leucostygma MFWL: 21-23mm smokey-grey-brown ground colour no black on abdomen Mexico: Oaxaca Guatemala

Anisota manitobensis M: 39-41mm; F: 45-53mm fw with pinkish cast males without hyaline area reduced black speckling south-central Manitoba, Canada ?? North Dakota; Wisconsin

Anisota oslari M: 43-54mm; F: 54-73mm brown fws quite triangular hindwings are dark southeastern Arizona; New Mexico; southwestern Colorado; western Texas Mexico: Sonora Belize

Anisota peigleri M: 31-36mm; F: 46-58mm moderate elevations dry scrub oak forests may be southernmost variation of senatoria southern Ky to central Fl

Anisota punctata 1365m abdomen black, hw dull rose, considerable speckling on fw difuse grey fw pm line Mexico: San Luis Potosi; Nuevo Leon; Sierra Madre Oriental Belize

Anisota senatoria M: 31-37mm; F: 45-59mm southern Me to central Ga west to central Mn to east Tx extreme southcentral Ontario, Canada, along northern shore of Lake Erie; southern shore of Lake Ontario

Anisota stigma M: 36-48mm; F: 52-75mm extensive speckling eastern half US from southern NH to central Fl extreme southern Ontario, Canada, along northern shore of Lake Erie

Anisota stigma fuscosa M: 35-45mm; F: 47-60mm possible color variation of stigma brown ground colour as opposed to reddish-orangey brown of stigma eastern third of Texas

Anisota virginiensis M: 29-36mm; F: 43-51mm male gc red brown to burgundy-maroon strong hyaline area Nova Scotia west to Manitoba Me to Mn to central Fl to east Tx

Anisota virginiensis discolor M: 27-37mm; F: 42-66mm possibly just a brownish form of virginiensis southeastern Texas through Louisiana

Anisota virginiensis pellucida M: 27-37mm; F: 44-53mm deeper reddish-brown gc possibly a color morph of virginiensis La to northern half Fl

P indicates a photograph is available. The first country/state listed is the type locality.

Listing of Anisota

N disjaliscana Brechlin & Meister, 2014 Mexico: Jalisco
N dismexicana Brechlin & Meister, 2014 Mexico: Mexico
N suprema Edwards, 1884, removed from synonymy with dissimilis by Brechlin & Meister, 2014 Mexico: Veracruz

P assimilis (Druce, 1886) Mexico: Sonora, Belize
P consularis Dyar, 1896, Florida, Southeastern U.S.
P dissimilis (Boisduval, 1872) Mexico: Oaxaca, Belize, Guatemala
suprema, H. Edwards, 1884, Mexico: Veracruz, is a synonym for dissimilis; given full species status in 2014 by Brechlin & Meister
P finlaysoni Riotte, 1969, northeastern shore of Lake Ontario, Canada; Minnesota, Wisconsin
P kendallorum Lemaire, 1987 Mexico, Belize
P leucostygma (Boisduval, 1872) Mexico, Guatemala
P manitobensis McDunnough, 1921, Manitoba, Canada; North Dakota, Wisconsin
P oslari W. Rothschild, 1907, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas into Mexico and Belize
skinneri, C. R. Biedermann, 1908, Arizona, is a synonym for oslari
neomexicana, Brehme, 1909, New Mexico, is a synonym for oslari
P peigleri Riotte, 1975 South Carolina, Kentucky to Florida
P punctata Riotte & Peigler, 1981 Mexico, Belize
P senatoria (J. E. Smith, 1797) Louisiana, eastern half of U.S.; Ontario, southern Canada
P stigma (Fabricius, 1775) eastern half of U.S., southern Canada
P stigma fuscosa Ferguson, 1971, Texas
P virginiensis (Drury, 1773) Virginia, eastern 2/3rds southern Canada and U.S.
P virginiensis discolor Ferguson, 1971, Texas to Louisiana
P virginiensis pellucida J. E. Smith, 1797, Louisiana to Florida

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