spongy moth

spongy moth, (Lymantria dispar), lepidopteran that is a serious pest of both deciduous and evergreen trees.

The European strain was accidentally introduced into eastern North America about 1869, and by 1889 it had become a serious pest of deciduous forests and fruit trees. By the end of the 20th century the moth had spread to the western Great Lakes region. Damage is less severe in its original European range, where the moth has several natural enemies.

The heavy-bodied flightless female moth is white with black zigzag markings and has a wingspan of 38 to 50 mm (1.5 to 2 inches). The smaller, darker male is a strong flier. Eggs deposited in clusters during July are covered with a mass of buff-coloured hair from the female’s abdomen. They hatch the following spring. The flat, pale brown larvae, with tufts of stiff brown and yellow hairs on their sides, grow to 50 mm and are voracious feeders. They often completely strip trees of their leaves in several weeks. Unlike most butterflies and moths, the larvae are the main dispersal stage. Small larvae spin silk from glands in their mouthparts and hang from branches high up in trees. If the silk lines are long enough, the wind breaks them from the tree, and the silk acts as a parasail, carrying the young larvae to new, uninfested trees to feed. When larval development is complete, they crawl down the tree trunk, settle in leaf litter at the base of the tree, and enter the pupal stage. The adult moth emerges from the cocoon after about 10 days, completing the annual generation.

A larger strain, the Asian spongy moth, has a wingspan of about 90 mm. It poses an even greater threat than its European relative because the female can fly, enabling it to spread quickly, and the larvae, which range in colour from light to dark brown, will eat the leaves of coniferous as well as deciduous trees. It has defoliated millions of hectares of trees in Russia and China and was discovered in northwestern North America in 1991. Spraying of young larvae with either traditional or biological insecticides remains the most effective means of controlling spongy moths.

In 2022 the name "spongy moth" was formally adopted as the new common name for the species by the Entomological Society of America, replacing an ethnic slur for the Roma people. The new name refers to the insect’s spongelike egg masses and was derived from the common name spongieuse used in France and French-speaking Canada.