Description

Insect Icons is a series of nine acrylic paintings featuring undesirable (to humans) species of insects.  Each 8” x 8” canvas is first painted with shimmering layers of two metallic golds and a metallic bronze with brushstrokes adding to the gilded effect.  In the photographs, this ground looks much flatter than it does in person.  Framed in black to 10.25” square.  $250.

Female Gypsy Moth.

Lymantria dispar dispar, commonly known as the gypsy moth, European gypsy moth, North American gypsy moth, or spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae that is of Eurasian origin.

Spongy moth eggs hatch between late April and mid-May.  The larval, or caterpillar, stage typically lasts about 7 weeks.  The larvae are most active during the months of May and June.  It is the caterpillar stage of the insect that is infamous for its appetite.  Oaks are its first choice, but it readily consumes beech, birch, elm, maples, and most other hardwoods.

Adult spongy moths do not feed.  The moths live for about 2 weeks, for the sole purpose of reproducing.  Though they cannot fly, adult females have wings.