Category: Lepidoptera

This post is related to the rearing work I shared previously of the Orgyia leucostigma (white-marked tussock moth). During a caterpillar hunting outing with Sarah, I found what was obviously a cocoon of a tussock moth. I can’t say for certain it belonged to O. leucostigma, but it is likely. So, I photographed it in the field and brought it home, keeping it separate from the O. leucostigma cocoons that I was rearing that were collected from my yard. As time went on and the other cocoons I was rearing began producing moths, I figured something was going to be different with the one pictured below.

Checking the container on 6-October, I found this beautiful Orgichneumon calcatorius, an Ichneumonid wasp with a Holarctic range that is a parasitoid of moths in the Orgyia and Dasychira genera. After taking a few photos, I let it go in the backyard. After emerging, females of the species mate and then overwinter as adults utilizing crevices in tree bark. In the spring and summer of the following year, they look for new caterpillars to insert their eggs.