Bug FAQTulip-tree Silkmoth
Callosamia angulifera · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Saturniidae
The tulip-tree silkmoth has a wingspan of about 8 to 11 cm and belongs to the Saturniidae family. It lives in the eastern United States and parts of southern Canada, from Massachusetts to the Florida panhandle. Caterpillars eat the leaves of the tulip tree, while adult moths do not feed.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Callosamia angulifera, known as the tulip-tree silkmoth, is a member of the Saturniidae family.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Its wingspan ranges from 8 to 11 cm (about 3.1 to 4.3 in).
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
The larvae feed on the leaves of the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). Adult moths do not feed at all.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adult moths are on wing in summer in the north and in early spring and late summer in the south.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species is native to the eastern United States and parts of southern Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It is a silkmoth in the family Saturniidae, which includes other large, similarly patterned moths.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 30 of 51 states and DC. Most records: North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What do tulip-tree silkmoth caterpillars eat?
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).
Source: Wikipedia
When can I see adult tulip-tree silkmoths?
In the north they appear from June to August; in the south they appear in March-April and again in August.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Saturniidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callosamia_angulifera
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.