The caterpillars that eat Ericameria nauseosa (rubber rabbitbrush), Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus (yellow rabbitbrush), and other native Great Basin shrubs are under-studied. It is likely many of these hostplant relationships will be new, and we will take the first larval photographs for many native moth species. This natural history work is a critical part of conserving and managing Western ecosystems: because Lepidoptera have highly specialized diets — with most species consuming only a single genus or family of plant — mapping these food web relationships is critical if we are to understand ecosystem-scale consequences of global change. Caterpillars are collected from nature, reared in the lab, and identified from their adult form and DNA barcoding.
You might also notice some non-caterpillar forms on this page; those are larvae or cocoons of parasitoid wasps and flies, which are in turn highly specialized on their caterpillar hosts.
Click on photographs for identification / taxonomic information. If a caption is lacking, the species identity is not yet known (or is awaiting confirmation by DNA barcoding).
Hostplant: Ericameria nauseosa (rubber rabbitbrush)
Rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) is a core study system of the Robinson Lab. This plant has a widespread distribution across the Western United States, with great variation in traits across soils and climates. It is also an ecologically foundational plant in Great Basin Ecosystems: it is used as winter forage by native ungulates; facilitates succession after fire and other disturbance; provides a critical late-season floral resource to pollinators; and is consumed by diverse and abundant herbivorous insects, which in turn provide an important food source for native birds and rodents. Together, these natural history features make it a powerful study system to understand the genetic and environmental basis of plant traits; consequences of those traits for food webs; and the future of Western ecosystems in a changing climate.
