spongy moth
noun
plural spongy moths
: an Old World tussock moth (Lymantria dispar) that was introduced about 1869 into the U.S., that has a grayish-brown hairy caterpillar which is a destructive defoliator of many trees, and that has a flightless adult female which lays eggs in a spongelike ovoid egg mass covered in yellowish-brown hairs
Note: The mature caterpillar of the spongy moth has two distinctive rows of five blue dots followed by six red dots on the back.
Note: This insect was formerly known as the gypsy moth but was officially renamed by the Entomological Society of America in March 2022 due to the offensiveness of the historical name.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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