Moths of North Carolina
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Dasychira Members:
110 NC Records

Dasychira tephra Hübner, 1809 - Tephra Tussock Moth

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: ErebidaeSubfamily: LymantriinaeTribe: OrgyiiniP3 Number: 930144.00 MONA Number: 8292.00
Comments: One of 16 species in this genus that occur in North America, 10 of which have been recorded in North Carolina.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Covell (1984)Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLDTechnical Description, Adults: Ferguson (1978)Technical Description, Immature Stages: Ferguson (1978) includes tephra in a key to the larvae. Illustrated by Wagner (2005).                                                                                 
Adult Markings: Males are typically uniformly gray brown with olive shadings and little contrast between green and brown areas (Ferguson, 1978); the pale patch found along the costa and cell is usually missing in the males (although present to some extent in the females). The antemedian line is black and roundly crenulated. The postmedian is usually straight or concave on the forewing but evenly convex on the hindwing. Forms with a black bar from the base to the tornus are fairly common in this species. In tephra, this bar is characteristically wide, black, and rounded or truncated at the end, whereas is is sharply pointed in obliquata and missing in dorsipennata (Ferguson, 1978). Females are larger and similar in color to the males but often have a paler patch from the costa to the cell. As in the males, there are barred forms of the females, again with wide black bar with a rounded or truncated termination at the tornus. Ferguson (1978) notes that barred females in particular can be confused with similarly marked individuals of basiflava and obliquata, although the bar in obliquata tends to be thinner and more sharply pointed.
Adult Structural Features: Dasychira species have two dorsal tufts on their abdomens, whereas Orgyia have just one. Adults lack mouthparts. Males cannot be distinguished from related species based on genitalia and females only exhibit slight differences (Ferguson, 1978).
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: Larvae are covered in grayish to yellowish hair, with two anterior hair pencils but with only one dorsal hair pencil on the anterior end; the plumose setae composing the hair pencils have a yellowish shaft and a dark tip. Larvae of D. dorsipennata are similar but have two lateral hair pencils in addition to the dorsal hair pencil at the posterior end and the shafts of the plumose setae are black instead of yellowish (see Ferguson, 1978, and Wagner, 2005, for details).
Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants.
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution: Recorded across the entire state except for the Barrier Islands.
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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