Stingless they may be, but their powerful mandibles (especially enlarged on males) can deliver a most uncomfortable bite if handled on anything but very chilly days. triangulum is a stingless species that (likely) feeds on pollen and nectar the details of their diet are not well documented. It doesn’t help that the taxonomy of sawflies (and the closely related horntails and wood wasps) is constantly in flux. The other 100,000+ species of described sawflies (Suborder Symphyta) are notoriously difficult to identify. In contrast to most sawflies, this species is large, conspicuous, and easy to identify. Once transformation to their adult stage is complete, they chew a hole in their cocoons and escape to freedom. Adults emerge in late May in New England, after overwintering as cocooned larvae buried in the leaf litter. Reduce your outdoor lighting when not in use to avoid disrupting moth mating season.Īwash in newly arrived birds, June is an easy time to miss the appearance of one of my favorite giants: Trichiosoma triangulum, the Giant Birch Sawfly.Avoid pesticides that impact caterpillars.Provide leaf litter and duff under these trees so the caterpillars can pupate and complete their full life cycle.And there are a variety of ways to help support moth populations. Rosy Maple Moths can be found in most deciduous and mixed-forests across Vermont, even in residential neighborhoods. Your observations will help illuminate patterns of host plant selection by butterflies and moths across the region. But if you do find caterpillars, consider sharing your observation with us on our iNaturalist Caterpillar and Sawfly Host Plant Project. You may never even notice if your backyard maple tree is hosting mapleworms. Trees bounce back in no time, suffering no lasting damage from briefly hosting this insect. Don’t worry though–tree herbivory from Rosy Maple caterpillars is usually minor, especially in New England where this species has only one brood a year. japonicum) are subpar cuisine and tend to be avoided by most insects that specialize on maples.Īdult Rosy Maples do not feed, meaning the entirety of their life cycle depends on the availability of maple trees. Despite being very closely related to our native maples, non-native maples like Norway Maple ( A. So those local sugarbushes not only yield syrup for your pancakes, they also support a vast amount of native wildlife. Yet, despite the availability of a diverse menu, these caterpillars tend to favor the sweetest members of the Acer genus, Sugar Maple ( A. Vermont is home to seven species of native maple trees, and numerous introduced non-native species. They are what entomologists call a ‘specialist’ insect–one dependent on just a small number of host plants to complete its life cycle. To complete their life cycle, Rosy Maple Moth caterpillars feed almost exclusively on maple trees. Rosy Maple Moths are also called Green-striped Mapleworms due to their equally adorable caterpillar stage. June marks the peak flight of adult Rosy Maples, which come out to find a mate and lay eggs in late June. When you think of moths, what colors come to mind? Gray? Brown? What about hot pink and electric yellow? This June, your porch light may come alive with the disco party colors of a charismatic nocturnal visitor that epitomizes the word ‘cute’: the Rosy Maple Moth ( Dryocampa rubicunda).

Rosy maple moth life cycle