What is Pyrrharctia isabella?
{{italictitle}} {{Speciesbox |name=Isabella tiger moth |image=Pyrrharctia isabella – Isabella Tiger Moth (14842796231).jpg |image_caption=Adult |image2=Pyrrharctia isabella - Caterpillar - Devonian Fossil Gorge - Iowa City - 2014-10-15 - image 1.jpg |image2_caption=Woollybear caterpillar |taxon=Pyrrharctia isabella |authority=([[James Edward Smith|J. E. Smith]], 1797) |synonyms_ref= |synonyms=*''Phalaena isabella'' <small>J. E. Smith, 1797</small> *''Pyrrharctia californica'' <small>Packard, 1864</small> }} The '''Isabella tiger moth''' (''Pyrrharctia isabella'') lives in temperate and cold northern regions, including the [[Arctic]]. Its [[caterpillar]], the banded '''woollybear''' larva, overwinters and freezes solid. It produces a body fluid which helps its tissues avoid cold damage. In the [[spring (season)|spring]] it thaws out, emerges from its hibernaculum, eats, and grows in the short Arctic [[summer]]. In [[temperate climate]]s, this species has one or two broods depending on its location. In the [[Arctic]], the warm period is so short that a woollybear feeds for several summers before it pupates. Each winter it freezes. A woollybear of another species lives through as many as 14 winters, before it pupates, and becomes an adult, having only a few-day mating period.<ref>[[David Attenborough]] series ''Frozen Planet'', co-produced by the [[BBC]] tv. Series 1, episode 2, at around 26min 45sec.</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Arctiidae]]