Ground lackey
Malacosoma castrensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
The ground lackey (Malacosoma castrensis) is a species in the family Lasiocampidae, order Lepidoptera.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the ground lackey
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grassland, wetland
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)
- Generations a year
- One
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the ground lackey live?
Not recorded
Is the ground lackey endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the ground lackey classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyLasiocampidae
- genusMalacosoma
- SpeciesMalacosoma castrensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Bombyx castrensis, Bombyx hilleri, Bombyx taraxacoides, Bombyx venata, Clisiocampa costipuncta, Clisiocampa fasciata, Lasiocampa castrensis, Malacosoma albescens, Malacosoma angustata, Malacosoma approximata, Malacosoma bifascia, Malacosoma brunnea, Malacosoma castrensis f. angustata, Malacosoma castrensis ksiezopolskii, Malacosoma designata, Malacosoma divisa, Malacosoma fusca, Malacosoma halophila, Malacosoma intermedia, Malacosoma ksiezopolskii, Malacosoma lineata, Malacosoma minor, Malacosoma obsoleta, Malacosoma olivacea, Malacosoma pallescens, Malacosoma pallida, Malacosoma rufo-virgata, Malacosoma semibrunnea, Malacosoma serena, Malacosoma trifasciata, Malacosoma unicolor, Malacosoma virgata, Phalaena castrensis
Other names and names in other languages (28)
- bourovec pryšcovýCzech
- Gwaswyfyn y MorfaWelsh
- Strand-RingspinderDanish
- WolfsmilchspinnerGerman
- niidu-rõngakedrikEstonian
- niittyrengaskehrääjäFinnish
- Livrée des PrésFrench
- kutyatejpohókHungarian
- Falena della salicorniaItalian
- Žolinis VerpikasLithuanian
- Dievkrēsliņu vērpējsLatvian
- båndringspinnerNorwegian Bokmål
- HeideringelrupsDutch
- bandringspinnarNorwegian Nynorsk
- Barczatka wilczomleczówkaPolish
- Коконопряд молочайныйRussian
- priadkovec mliečnikovýSlovak
- gnezdeča prsteničarkaSlovenian
- ängsringspinnareSwedish
- Коконопряд молочайнийUkrainian
- Gwaswyfynod y MorfaWelsh
- Gråklit-spinderDanish
- Have-ringspinderDanish
- RedespinderDanish
- StrandringspinderDanish
- UrteringspinderDanish
- Wolfsmilch-RingelspinnerGerman
- Livrée des prés (La)French
Relatives of the ground lackey
Other species in the same genus Malacosoma.

Lackey moth
Malacosoma neustria
Forest tent caterpillar
Malacosoma disstria
Mountain lackey
Malacosoma alpicola
Eastern tent caterpillar
Malacosoma americana
Sonoran tent caterpillar
Malacosoma tigris
Pacific tent caterpillar
Malacosoma constricta
CompareGround lackey vs Lackey mothGround lackey vs Forest tent caterpillarGround lackey vs Mountain lackeyGround lackey vs Eastern tent caterpillar
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
What kind of animal is the ground lackey?
The ground lackey (Malacosoma castrensis) belongs to the family Lasiocampidae in the order Lepidoptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Ground lackey (Malacosoma castrensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/ground-lackey
“Ground lackey (Malacosoma castrensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/ground-lackey.
@misc{ground_lackey_2026,
title = {Ground lackey (Malacosoma castrensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ground-lackey},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}