Lepidoptera Family Plusiida Moths
The most peculiar feature of the moths of this family is the tufts of hair that stand up perpendicularly on the top of the thorax. The abdomen also is crested, and the fore wings of several species have smooth patches that display a brilliant metallic lustre.
Most of the larva may be described as semi-loopers, for their claspers number only three pairs, and when they walk their backs are considerably humped, somewhat after the fashion of the Geometra. Some of them further imitate the Geometra in their position of rest, holding on by their claspers only, with body straightened out at an angle with the leaf or twig on which they support themselves.
Unlike the majority of the Noctua, they do not descend to the ground when about to change, but spin a silken cocoon among the food plants.