Epicallia villica

Cream-spot Tiger Epicallia villica

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Arctiidae
Genus:	Epicallia
Species:	E. villica
Binomial name
*Epicallia villica* (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Arctia villica (Linnaeus, 1758) Arctia villica meridionalis (Heinrich, 1923) Chelonia villica corsica (Oberthür, 1911) Chelonia villica nicaeensis (Oberthür, 1911) Phalaena bombyx vidua (Poda, 1761)

The Cream-spot Tiger (Epicallia villica) is a moth of the family Arctiidae. The species is distributed from the Iberian Peninsula across western and southern Europe, Anatolia, western and northern Iran, West Siberia, Southwest Asia and North Africa.^[1]

Description

The wingspan of these moths reaches 45–60 mm.^[2] They have black forewings with white, broad patches and spots. The orange hind wings have black spots. The thorax is black and the abdommen is reddish-orange. The caterpillars are black with light brown tufts of hairs, while the head and the legs are reddish. They can reach a length of about 12–12 mm.

Behaviour

The moths are nocturnal and attracted by light, but the females fly also during the day. By day these moths can be found resting on leaves. Moths of this species fly from March to July depending on the location.

The caterpillars feed on a variety of herbaceous plants, mainly Dandelion (Taraxacum species), Plantains (Plantago species), Deadnettles (Lamium species), Yarrow (Achillea species), Blackberries (Rubus species), Nettles (Urtica species), Knapweeds (Centaurea species) and Strawberries (Fragaria species).^[3]

They overwinter, but they are relatively sensitive to frost. They can be seen in the spring after hibernation while feeding or seeking for suitable places to pupate. They pupate in May on the ground.