Giant Leopard Moth (Hypercompe scribonia)

Order: Lepidoptera (le-pid-OP-ter-a) (Info) Family: Arctiidae (ark-TYE-ih-dee) (Info) Genus: Hypercompe Species: scribonia Profile: 2 positives 5 neutrals No negatives Regional... This bug has been reportedly found in the following regions: Deer, Arkansas Malibu, California Canterbury, Connecticut Bear, Delaware Apopka, Florida Deland, Florida Jacksonville, Florida (2 reports) Lake Mary, Florida Port Saint Lucie, Florida Saint Petersburg, Florida Algonquin, Illinois Elkhart, Indiana Plymouth, Indiana Hebron, Kentucky Metairie, Louisiana Middletown, Maryland Oakland, Maryland Littleton, Massachusetts Larchmont, New York Roseboro, North Carolina Cincinnati, Ohio Eaton, Ohio Glouster, Ohio Greensburg, Pennsylvania Norristown, Pennsylvania Dickson, Tennessee Murfreesboro, Tennessee Bloomburg, Texas Desoto, Texas Garland, Texas Alexandria, Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia Virginia Beach, Virginia Trego, Wisconsin Member Notes: Rating Author Comment Neutral Magpye On Aug 11, 2006, Magpye from NW Qtr, AR (Zone 6a) wrote: Description: Carrying with a 3-inch wingspan, this moth is white with black open-circular spots on the forewings and a metallic blue abdomen with orange markings. Caterpillars grow to about 2 inches. The caterpillars are fuzzy black caterpillars with the underlying body color of red to orange. Life Cycle: Caterpillars can be abundant in the spring time. They can sometimes be seen crossing roads so commonly that motorists notice them. The adult moths are common under lights at night later in the season to mid summer. There may be a second generation later in the year, in the lower south. Food Source: Caterpillars feed on a variety of broad leaved plants that seem to be mostly weeds. Pest Status: They are not considered pests except a bit in pastures. They are abundant enough for many people to notice them. Positive katrun On Jun 25, 2007, katrun from Alexandria, VA (Zone 7a) wrote: I found this Beautiful Moth here on my Wood Pile in the shade. What a looker! I was so excited to find him. I have never seen one here in my area or in Maryland. I hope to see him again. What a Beautiful Creature. I do not know anything about him or his habits. I found him during the day. Neutral spaffrath On Sep 22, 2007, spaffrath from Larchmont, NY wrote: We found a 2" caterpillar in our yard - just like in the photos! We've observed it eating japanese maple leaves. It was exciting to find out what moth it was, and as far as we've been able to research it is mostly spotted in our area on eastern Long Island. We are in Westchester County New York - between NYC and the Connecticut line on the shore. Hope the birds don't find it before spring! Neutral Eideblack On Jul 5, 2008, Eideblack from Chippewa Falls, WI wrote: I found this moth drying it wings. It is huge. I have never seen it before although I have seen its shedded skin in the wood pile. I found it near Trego, Wisconsin on July 4 2008. Neutral tigermom1 On Jul 13, 2008, tigermom1 from Algonquin, IL wrote: July 12, 2008 Algonquin, IL Found it fluttering its wings on a planter pot during daylight on the front porch. Looked like it was drying its wings, then I noticed the ends of its wings are slightly frayed. Perhaps it was injured in the big storms we had the last couple days. I never saw anything like it. Such a striking appearance that we were looking it up to identify it. Neutral kehughes90265 On Apr 22, 2009, kehughes90265 from Malibu, CA wrote: Malibu California Jack, 8, and Dylan, 5 found a Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar on 4/21/2009 in Malibu California, we are feeding it honeysuckle and have it in a butterfly cage. It is about 2 inches long, any idea if we can keep it till it turns into a moth, and then let go, please advise Positive jrmommy On Jul 4, 2009, jrmommy from Elkhart, IN wrote: Our neighbors found this moth on June 18th, 2009. They brought it down to my two boys. JR age 5 and Kerry age 20 months. JR fell in love with it and named it Junior. He wanted to keep it but we knew it would die in the jar. We convinced him to let it go, but he decide to pick it up. He put his finger down and the moth climbed all the way back up JR's arm, around his back, and then decide to stay on JR's shirt. This moth is very awesome. It was really neat to experience something you don't see very often.

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