Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Nepytia canosaria - False Hemlock Looper - Hodges#6906

Moth ID Needed - Nepytia canosaria False Hemlock Looper pupa  - Nepytia canosaria false hemlock looper - Nepytia canosaria Moth - Nepytia canosaria False Hemlock Looper - Hodges#6906 - Nepytia canosaria - male 6906 False Hemlock Looper - Nepytia canosaria Looper of some sort? - Nepytia canosaria Nepytia canosaria
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Ennominae
Tribe Ourapterygini
Genus Nepytia
Species canosaria (False Hemlock Looper - Hodges#6906)
Hodges Number
6906
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Nepytia canosaria (Walker, [1863])
Aspilates canosaria Walker, 1863
Synonyms
Nepytia pulchraria
N. piniaria
N. fuscaria
Size
Wingspan 25-32 mm.
Identification
Adult: top of head small yellowish spot; forewing ground color usually whitish but sometimes dark grayish-brown; wings speckled with gray or brown; forewing AM and PM lines black, scalloped, and with pointed teeth in PM line; discal spot large, black; in dark individuals, PM line bordered by conspicuous white line
hindwing paler with less prominent markings; fringe of both wings checkered black and white

Larva: body boldly striped with green and pale yellow; head green with black dots.

]
Range
Newfoundland to North Carolina, west to Oregon, north to Alberta. (1)
Habitat
Coniferous and mixed woods; adults fly during day and night, and may be attracted to light.
Season
The adults fly from late July to October.
Food
The larvae feed on leaves of a variety of coniferous trees. (2)
Life Cycle
[Overwinters as a pupa in a flimsy cocoon among foliage of host plant]?? see: comment here Overwinters as an egg.
Larva; pupa, adult
See Also
N. semiclusaria (The Southern Neptyia) is larger and smoother dark gray with less contrasting lines. Its range is restricted to the southeast (NC to FL, west to TX).(3)

-
N. pellucidaria is similar but less boldly patterned, and with less black.

-

-
in the far west see species of Enypia.
Print References
Covell, p. 371 & plate 56#1 (4)
Walker, F. 1862. Geometrites. List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum, 26: page 1674.
Internet References
pinned adult images of 2 males and 2 females (James Adams, Dalton State College, Georgia)
adult image (Larry Line, Maryland)
Works Cited
1.Assessment of species diversity in the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone
McAlpine D.F., Smith I.M. (eds.). 2010. Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press). 785 pp.
2.Western Forest Insects
Furniss, R.L. and Carolin, V.M. 1977. 1977. U.S.D.A. Forest Service Misc. Publ. 1339.
3.Southern Nepytia
4.Peterson Field Guides: Eastern Moths
Charles V. Covell. 1984. Houghton Mifflin Company.
5.North American Moth Photographers Group
6.University of Alberta E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum
7.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems
8.Butterflies of North America