Moth Photographers Group – Anisota virginiensis

Digital Guide to Moth Identification

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Saturniidae

890017 – 7723 Anisota virginiensis (Drury, 1773)

Pink-striped Oakworm

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Distribution:	Eastern US and Canada. The southern boundary is unknown. Anisota virginiensis (Drury, 1773) and the related species A. discolor Ferguson, 1971 and A. pellucida (Smith, 1797) are all similar and have been variously treated as separate species, synonyms, or subspecies of a wide-ranging A. virginiensis. Since we cannot independently verify the identities of all specimens representing data points for A. virgienis sensu lato on MPG, all populations are treated together on the map above.
Similar Species:	7723 A. virginiensis, 7723.1 A. pellucida and 7723.2 A. discolor may not be identifiable by external morphological characters. Pinned specimens of related species. (Hint: select View by Region on the related species page.)
Synonymy:	virginiensis (Drury, 1773) (Phalaena) - MONA 1983: 7723 astynome (Olivier, 1790) (Bombyx)
Taxonomic Notes:	Anisota virginiensis (Drury, 1773) included as a subspecies [7723.1] A. v. pellucida (Smith, 1797) and [7723.2] A. v. discolor Ferguson, 1971 in Hodges et al. (1983) (Checklist). Kitching et al. (2018) treats both as full species following Burke & Peigler (2009).

References

Barcode of Life (BOLD) - Caution: DNA barcode provides evidence of relatedness, not proof of identification, and some BOLD specimens shown may not be sequenced.
Burke, J.T. & R.S. Peigler, 2009. Phylogenetic Analysis of Anisota (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) Based on Scolus Size and Structure of Mature Larvae. Southeastern Naturalist, 8(4): 739-745.
Ferguson, D. C., 1971. Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 20.2a: p. 80; pl. 5.19-20, 22-23. order or free PDF
Hall et al., 2021. The Moths of North Carolina - website (identification, habitats and life history)
Kitching, I., R. Rougerie, A. Zwick, C. Hamilton, R. St Laurent, S. Naumann, L. Ballesteros Mejia, A. Kawahara, 2018. A global checklist of the Bombycoidea (Insecta: Lepidoptera). Biodiversity Data Journal, 6: e22236.
Species Page at BugGuide.Net
Species Page at Mass Moths