Malacosoma castrense

Malacosoma castrense (or Malacosoma castrensis), the ground lackey, is a moth of the family Lasiocampidae. It is a tent caterpillar found in Europe. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

Ground lackey
Larvae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Lasiocampidae
Genus:
Malacosoma
Species:
M. castrense
Binomial name
Malacosoma castrense
Synonyms
  • Malacosoma castrensis
  • Malacosoma tianshanica Daniel, 1949
  • Phalaena castrensis Linnaeus, 1758

The length of the forewings is 13–16 mm for males and 17–21 mm for females. The moth flies from June to August, depending on the location.

The caterpillars feed on various shrubs and herbaceous plants such as heather, cypress spurge, and Lotus species.

Subspecies
  • Malacosoma castrense castrense
  • Malacosoma castrense kirghisicum (Staudinger, 1879) (Asia Minor, Kazakhstan, Turkmenia, Uzbekistan)
  • Malacosoma castrense thomalae Gaede, 1932 (Tien-Shan)
  • Kimber, Ian. "66.004 BF1635 Ground Lackey Malacosoma castrensis (Linnaeus, 1758)". UKMoths. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  • Lepidoptera of Belgium
  • Lepiforum e.V.
  • De Vlinderstichting (in Dutch)


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