Lasiocampidae

Lasiocampidae

[‚las·ē·ō′kam·pə‚dē]

(invertebrate zoology)

The tent caterpillars and lappet moths, a family of cosmopolitan (except New Zealand) lepidopteran insects in the suborder Heteroneura.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Lasiocampidae

 

a family of insects of the order Lepidoptera. The wing span of the Lasiocampidae reaches 8 cm. The females are larger than the males. The mouth organs are not developed in the moths. The caterpillars are covered with hairs. They feed on leaves (mainly of woody plants). The eggs are usually deposited in small mounds. The caterpillars pupate in elongated cocoons of silk thread (hence the Russian Kokonopriady, “cocoon-spinners”). Lasiocampidae usually winter in the caterpillar stage. There are about 1,000 species, they are widespread, and most varied in the tropics. There are about 50 species in the USSR, found predominantly in the forests. Many representatives of the group are damaging to flora. This is true especially of the pine moth (Dendrolimus pini) and the cedar, or Siberian, moth (Dendrolimus sibiricus), which are forest pests, and the lackey moth (Malacosoma neustria), which is harmful to orchards.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.