Subject: Freaky egg laying, giant fuzzy flea?! 🙂
Geographic location of the bug: Union County, Ohio
Date: 10/01/2017
Time: 04:29 PM EDT
This critter is doing its thing on my chicken coop door. It looks like a big, fuzzy flea or tick. It’s about 1/2-3/4 inch long. It’s laying a gob of eggs on a sort of cocoon. I poked the cocoon and it moved, and the critter moved too. WEIRD! What is it!?
How you want your letter signed: Curious in Ohio
Dear Curious in Ohio,
There are many flightless female moths, and we quickly identified your White-Marked Tussock Moth laying eggs thanks to this BugGuide image. According to BugGuide: “Flightless females lay a froth-covered mass of up to 300 eggs after mating.”