LIBRARY

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COLLEGE ENTOMOLOGY
Hind wings with Rs and M stalked beyond end of cell; fore wings often
large, areole present, Cu, well developed; maxillary palpi, proboscis,
and ocelli absent. Larvre wood borers, often large. Adults large with
narrow wings. Widely distributed. (Carpenter Moths, Wood Moths.)
COSSIDlE
Family COSSIDJE (Leach 1815), Walker 1855 (Cos'si-dre, from the Latin
cossus, a kind of larva under bark of trees). German, Holzbohrer. French,
Cossoidea. Wood Moths, Goat Moths, Carpenter Moths, Cossids.
Medium-sized to large, 35-180 mm. wing expanse, hairy and scaly nocturnal
moths which sometimes have a decidedly greasy appearance. Colors cryptic,
gray or brownish with dusky spots, hind wings may be bright; males usually
smaller than females and brighter in color. Proboscis and maxillary palpi
absent; labial palpi short or vestigial, upturned. Antennre smooth, pectinate,
or plumose. Tibial spurs variable. Wings with primitive type of venation;
folded fiat over back in repose; clothed with closely appressed scales and with
long hairs especially at the bases; fore wings with areole; frenulum present,
hind wings with R, and M2 close together or stalked beyond apex of discal cell.
Abdomen robust or long and slender and pointed posteriorly; hairy. Eggs
globular, sculptured, laid singly or in masses on the bark or in the old burrows.
Larva! with only primary setre; somewhat flattened; head and prothoracic
shield heavily chitinized; mandibles large and strong; five pairs of prolegs,
crochets in two series in circlets; color varying from yellowish-white to pink
with dusky dorsal markings. Pupre free, the dorsum of each abdominal segment
furnished with one or two raised serrated or spined bands; enclosed in a cocoon
of silk and frass within the burrows which are extended to the surface and
plugged with frass by the caterpillars prior to pupation.
The family is a small one more or less restricted to the deciduous forests of
the temperate regions of the world.
The most noted species is the common goat moth, Cossus cossus (Linn.)
(= ligniperda Fab.) of Europe, the large larvre of which bore into the trunks
and limbs of broad-leaved deciduous trees and large shrubs. This insect was
included in such early historical entomological works as Aldrovandus 1602,
Moufet 1634, Goedart 1659, Merian 1730, Albin 1728, Reaumur 1734, ReEsel
1746, and DeGeer 1752. It has been made famous throughout all time by
marvellous early anatomical researches on the larvre by Pierre Lyonet in 1760.1
The adults are dull brownish-gray with a wing expanse of 60-95 mm. The
caterpillars are dull pale yellowish-red with dark brownish-red dorsum and
may attain a length of 75 mm. They make large tunnels in the trunks and
large limbs of all the common deciduous trees: alder, ash, beech, birch, elm,
fruit trees, grape vines, linden, maple, mulberry, oak, poplar, walnut, willow,
and other related forms.
The carpenter or goat moth, Prionoxystus robini::e (Peck), one of the first
I TraiIB Ana(omique de la Chenille, qui ronge Ie Bois de Saule. La Haye, pp. 22 + 587 + 3,
18 pIs. 1760.