Lymantriidae. Eight species regularly found in the British Isles, one species now extinct. Home

Common Name   Latin Name   Food plant(s)   Description
Reed Tussock   Laelia coenosa   Branched bur-reed, great fen-sedge and common reed   Grey, black dorsal stripe, dorsal tufts of yellow hairs on segments four to seven, pair of forward facing black tufts on first ring, and rear tuft. Extinct in Britain since 1879, on the continent found locally in France, Spain, Denmark and northern Germany.
Scarce Vapourer   Orgyia recens   Hawthorn, oak, sallow and bramble   Black or dark grey, marked white, orange-red spiracular line, brown tufts of bristles. Mainly in woods in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
The Vapourer Orgyia antiqua   Hawthorn, blackthorn, birch, oak, lime and many other plants   Dark bluish-grey, marked with red spots, yellow tufts of bristles and black tufts. Most of Britain.
Dark Tussock   Dicallomera fascelina   Heather, broom, sallow, bramble and other plants   Black, covered with yellowish hairs, black-tipped white tufts of bristles dorsally. Moorland, heaths, shingle beaches and coastal sandhills of southern England, Cheshire and Lancashire and Scottish Highlands.
Pale Tussock Calliteara pudibunda   Oak, birch, lime and blackthorn   Greenish-yellow, black hairs, yellow tufts of bristles dorsally. Common in England and Wales.
Brown-tail   Euproctis chrysorrhoea   Bramble, sallow, blackthorn and hawthorn   Black, brown hairs, series of white marks subdorsally and a pair of red spots dorsally. Locally abundant from Hampshire to Suffolk, also as far north as Yorkshire.
Yellow-tail   Euproctis similis   Blackthorn, hawthorn, oak and sallow   Black with black hairs on the back and grey hairs laterally, twin broken red lines dorsally. Common throughout most of England.
White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis   Sallow, poplar, aspen and willow   Grey on sides and black dorsally, row of creamy-white blotches along centre of back, and rows of reddish bristle-bearing structures. Much of England and Wales.
Black V Moth   Arctornis l-nigram   Sallow, poplar, elm and lime   Greyish with tufts of white hairs laterally, orange lines dorsally and subdorsally. Temporarily established on the Essex coast from 1947 to 1960.
Black Arches   Lymantria monacha   Oak   Grey with whitish hairs and broad black marking. Southern half of England.
Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar   Apple, plum and sallow   Caterpillars are gray with white side stripes and an orange stripe along the back, covered with long hairs. Tubercles are on each segment, those on the first 5 segments are blue, the rest are red. Side tubercles are yellow. Notorious pest in Europe and North America, became extinct in Britain in 1907.