Species Gabriola dyari - Dyar's Looper - Hodges#6781

6781

Gabriola dyari Taylor, 1904

Specific name dyari is named in honor of the USDA entomologist Harrison Gray Dyar Jr. (1866-1929), who described hundreds of species and genera of lepidoptera.

wingspan 25-30 mm

larva length to 20 mm

Adult: body slender; antennae pectinate (at least in males); forewing brownish-gray with black speckling and lines; AM and PM lines thick, AM line slightly curved, PM line zigzagged or sinuate; two or three black wedges at costa near apex; diffuse whitish patches in basal and anal angle areas; hindwing uniformly brownish-gray except dark thin terminal line. For additional information see Ringe's description(1)

Larva: head light tan with reddish-brown mottling, vertex moderately cleft; body stocky with numerous swellings, rusty brown to gray with white dorsal patches on the second, fourth, and eighth abdominal segments

[adapted from description at Canadian Forest Service]

Alaskan panhandle and British Columbia to California

coniferous forests

adults fly from June to October in California

larvae from May to July

larvae feed on foliage of coniferous trees: principal hosts are Western Hemlock and Douglas-fir; other hosts include Western Red Cedar, Amabilis Fir, Grand Fir, Subalpine Fir, Engelmann Spruce, Mountain Hemlock

one generation per year; overwinters as an egg; pupation occurs in a cocoon on a twig in August, and lasts for approximately 26 days

The larva at rest resembles a bird dropping, but it can contort its body into a configuration that looks like a male cone of conifers.

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G. regularia is similar but lacks diffuse whitish patches on the forewing, and apparently occurs only in Arizona (see pinned adult image of G. regularia)

Gabriola sierrae is an inland mountainous species of California and adjoining Nevada. In California, dyari is mainly found along the west coast of the state. See Rindge (1974) range map linked under citations below. (1)

Powell, J. A. & P. A. Opler, Moths of Western North America, pl. 29.24, 29.25; p. 214. (2)

Moth Photographers Group(3)

BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data System (4)