DISTRIBUTION:

Hemileuca peigleri (wingspan: males: 45-58mm; females: 54-68mm) flies over oak-covered hills in central Texas on the Edwards Plateau.

Robert Nuelle has reported adult specimens taken from Calhoun County in late December. This would be a significant extension of the range to the south and east.

Hemileuca peigleri male, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas,
23 November 2001, 58mm, courtesy/copyright Charles Bordelon and Ed Knudson.

"Male abdomen is black with a red tip, female abdomen is black. Wings are almost transparent. Upperside is gray with narrow black borders and black wing bases. Each wing has a wide white band and a small eyespot. "

Hemileuca peigleri female, Detering Ranch, Uvalde County, Texas,
31 Oct, 2000, 68mm, courtesy/copyright Charles Bordelon and Ed Knudson.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

This species flies from October (DB) November - December.

Oaks are the favorite host plants of the larvae, and they feed on Texas live oak (Quercus fusiformis), Havard's oak (Q. havardii), Shumard's oak (Q. shumardii), and Nuttall oak (Q. texana).

Hemileuca peigleri pair, Giles Ranch, Kendall County, Texas,
October, 2020, courtesy of Derek Bridgehouse.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Adults emerge in the early morning and mate in early afternoon.

Males use well developed antennae to track the female's pheromone plume.

Males fly near the ground in search of calling females, but females fly up to 10-20 feet high in the oak trees during their ovipositing flights in the late afternoon.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

In the late afternoon, females lay groups of eggs in rings around twigs of the host tree. The eggs overwinter, and when they hatch in February or March the young caterpillars feed in groups. Caterpillars wander about and in May or June make their cocoons in leaf litter on the ground or a few inches underground in soft soil.

Hemileuca peigleri larva, Bexar County, Texas, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe.

Michael Van Buskirk writes, "A field trip today (December 30), looking for Hemileuca in South Texas, yielded two ova rings, which I believe to be Hemileuca maia "peigleri." The subspecies comes from a very disjunct population along the Gulf Coast of South Texas. Quite possibly a new taxon, and rearing should help sort out if this might indeed be something new. The adults were on the wing earlier this week, but I did not see any. On Monday, December 26, more than a dozen specimens were taken, and many more seen.

"Both ova rings were found on scrub live oak, and the correct Quercus species will be determined at a later date. Location is Calhoun County, Texas, December 30, 2005. I've also enclosed a photo of the habitat.

I will try to rear these out this spring, and send photos of the larvae as I get them."

Hemileuca peigleri egg rings and habitat (Calhoun County),
courtesy of Michael Van Buskirk.

Michael was successful in overwintering the eggs and on April 11 writes, "Hemileuca maia "peigleri" from Port O'Connor are 27 days old:

Larvae are mid-4th instar, molted into 4th on Wednesday April 5.
Most are 1.25-1.50" in length, and getting more bulk by the day
Not gregarious, and feed singly, or occasionally with 2-5 larvae together (in 3rd instar larvae were still in "colonies" of 20-40 individuals)
Larvae wander more than previous instars, suspect this is a dispersal mechanism
Losses to small spiders and Hemipterans has ceased now that larvae are larger
About 60 larvae remain; no disease seen to date (fingers crossed!)
When flower buds are available, larvae head for these first
Compared to nominate Hemileuca maia, not a lot of phenotypic difference so far
Larvae are in a unique set-up on loan from Roy Kendall; sheet metal ring keeps larvae "corralled"; hostplant is in low containers with leaves touching the floor; wandering larvae find foodplant no matter where they wander

Hemileuca peigleri fourth instar, courtesy of Mike van Buskirk.

Hemileuca peigleri fourth instar, courtesy of Mike van Buskirk.

Hemileuca peigleri fourth instar, courtesy of Mike van Buskirk.

Larval Food Plants

Listed below are primary food plant(s) and alternate food plants. It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the foodplant will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Quercus fusiformis........ Q. havardii Q. shumardii Q. texana

Texas live oak Havard's oak Shumard's oak Nuttall oak

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