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Digital Guide to Moth Identification

Saturniidae
890017 – 7723   Anisota virginiensis (Drury, 1773)
             Pink-striped Oakworm

© Carol Wolf
Distribution: Caution: A single range map dot for a Canadian province may represent records without specific location data.
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: Phalaena virginiensis Drury, 1773
Bombyx astynome Olivier, 1790
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: Some specimens shown may not be sequenced. DNA barcode provides evidence of relatedness not proof of identification.
  • 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
Anisota virginiensis
© Lynette Schimming
Anisota virginiensis
© Machele White
Anisota virginiensis
© Lewis Scharpf - m.
Anisota virginiensis
© Ken Childs
Anisota virginiensis
LG - – © Jim Troubridge
Anisota virginiensis
LG - – © Jim Troubridge
Anisota virginiensis
- 52mm - LG – © Jim Vargo
Anisota virginiensis
- 35mm – © Jim Vargo
Anisota virginiensis
© Bob Webster LG

Anisota virginiensis
© Yurika Alexander LG

Anisota virginiensis
© Josée Quimper (Quebec.ca) LG
on Betula papyrifera
Anisota virginiensis
© Charles Lewallen

Anisota virginiensis
© Canadian National Collection LG

Anisota virginiensis
© Roxanne Bertrand (Quebec.ca) LG
on Betula papyrifera
Anisota virginiensis
© McGuire Center LG

Anisota virginiensis
© Machele White


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