Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur

Sitio realizado por aficionados a la observación de aves desde 10 de enero 2006

Bagworm - Oiketicus platensis

Bicho canasto/Bagworm© Sergio Cusano

The bagworm belongs into the family Psychidae, whose main characteristic is the bag the larvae build with silk and sticks of their hosts. Once it is built it is not abandoned. In the last stage the bag is fixed to a branch. There it remains till it turns into an adult. If it is a female, it will stay in the bag since females do not have wings and do not fly. The male, instead, gets out of the bag in search for females to be fertilized. Females lay some 1000 eggs which remain in the bag till they become larvae. These leave the bag to reach the vegetation and some time later they begin to build their own bag.