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

1903 Gabriola dyari - Dyar's Looper 6781 - Gabriola dyari - male Unknown moth - Gabriola dyari - male Gabriola dyari - male Urban noctuid? - Gabriola dyari Reddish Moth - Gabriola dyari - male Reddish Moth - Gabriola dyari - male Gabriola dyari - female Unknown Moth - Gabriola dyari
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 Nacophorini
Genus Gabriola
Species dyari (Dyar's Looper - Hodges#6781)
Hodges Number
6781
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Gabriola dyari Taylor, 1904
Explanation of Names
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.
Size
wingspan 25-30 mm
larva length to 20 mm
Identification
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]
Range
Alaskan panhandle and British Columbia to California
Habitat
coniferous forests
Season
adults fly from June to October in California
larvae from May to July
Food
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
Life Cycle
one generation per year; overwinters as an egg; pupation occurs in a cocoon on a twig in August, and lasts for approximately 26 days
Remarks
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.

Page is currently being updated. July 13, 2018 @ 9 pm Central. Please check back
See Also
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)
Print References
Powell, J. A. & P. A. Opler, Moths of Western North America, pl. 29.24, 29.25; p. 214. (2)
Works Cited
1.A revision of the moth genus Gabriola (Lepidoptera, Geometridae).
Frederick H. Rindge. 1974. American Museum Novitates 2550: 1-24, f.1-26.
2.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems