One of the creepy/cool aspects of organic gardening and holistic orcharding is surprise. Unpredictability. Spanning the weird-to-wonderful gamut, absenting pesticides from our garden and orchard exposes us to critters and condition that might otherwise be excommunicated. Or masked. Today I share with you an almost fractal perfect(and almost intimate) encounter with young Hickory Tussock Moth (Lophocampa caryae) specimens preparing to munch a leaf — and then another and another and another — in a persimmon tree in Rosslyn’s orchard.
Whether or not you feel a little uneasy this close and personal with a Lophocampa caryae larva aggregation (ie. juvenile Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillars), I sincerely hope you can appreciate how arrestingly interesting, maybe even beautiful this cluster of hungry larvae appeared to me.
But before I beg your patience and try to tickle your curiosity, let’s introduce these fuzzy black and white creatures.
Lophocampa caryae, the hickory tiger moth, hickory tussock moth, or hickory halisidota, is a moth in the family Erebidae and the tribe Arctiini, the tiger moths. The species is widely distributed in the eastern half of North America. In other species in this family, the caterpillars acquire chemical defenses from their host plants, so they are potentially toxic or unpalatable, but despite anecdotal claims that this species may also be venomous, no venom has yet been isolated or identified; adverse reactions are characterized as irritant contact dermatitis. (Source: iNaturalist)
Visually intriguing but irritating. That should be some sort of universal classification, no?
Let’s take a closer look at the venom / no venom debate that often accompanies a discussion of these leaf loving gastronomes.
Some of the hairs on this caterpillar have barbs, and can get stuck in your skin. They then break off, leaving small ‘little spears’ in your skin which can cause an allergic reaction.
The longer black hairs do contain a venom and when these get stuck in your skin they can inject a chemical. If these hairs break off, excess chemical can also be spread onto the surface of your skin. Both situations can cause an allergic reaction.
Is the hickory tussock moth caterpillar poisonous? No, however it is venomous.
[…]
All of the symptoms described for this caterpillar are allergic reactions. (Source: Garden Myths)
The author later updated the post cited above with some uncertainty about the presence of venom. So that question remains. In fact, there’s another important question to consider: does my photograph accurately identify the larvae? Are these mesmerizingly fascinating wild neighbors Hickory Tussock Moth (Lophocampa caryae), or have I confused them with another variety of defoliating caterpillars with mouths full of Rosslyn fruit tree leaves and imaginations ripe with colorful mothness? Please correct me if I’ve erred!
Until then I’ll continue to remove the pretty-but-pesty invaders. Maybe a spray of neem oil too if they persist. But I’ll take a moment to appreciate the aesthetically arresting experience. Wonder as I wander the orchard looking for infestations…
What do you think?