garden tiger moth
arctia caja latin

The garden tiger moth loves damp places, which is why it is particularly common in river valleys as well as gardens and parks.

Caterpillars of the garden tiger moth, for example, will only make their cocoons inside a heap of dead leaves or garden rubbish.

The garden tiger moth (Arctia caja) is a moth of the Arctiidae family.

The caterpillar of the garden tiger moth feeds on various kinds of non-woody plants, as well as bushes and trees.

Hairy caterpillars, such as this 'woolly bear' or garden tiger moth caterpillar, are usually distasteful to birds, but not to the cuckoo.

The garden tiger moth is found throughout Europe as far north as Lapland, in Asia, and in North America.

The garden tiger moth is protected in the UK under the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).

The updated list included the hedgehog, house sparrow, grass snake and the garden tiger moth, while otters, bottlenose dolphins and red squirrels remained in need of habitat protection.

They refer to the work of Bates and Fenton on the responses of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, to the defensive clicks made by moths in the family Arctiidae, which includes the garden tiger moth, Arctia caja.

Plants of this genus are eaten mainly by the larvae of many Lepidoptera species including Emperor Moth, Garden tiger moth, True Lover's Knot, Wormwood Pug and the Coleophora case-bearers C. juncicolella and C. pyrrhulipennella.

Rabbits are currently the only grazing animal and in the 1960s myxomatosis decimated the population and led to an increase of scrub on parts of the island, especially "the neck" where in some years cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) were attracted by the large numbers of garden tiger moth (Arctia caja) and other large caterpillars.