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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Geometroidea) » Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) » Ennominae » Lithinini » Thallophaga » Thallophaga hyperborea - Hodges#6809 (Thallophaga hyperborea)

Species Thallophaga hyperborea - Hodges#6809

Classification · Hodges Number · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · See Also · Internet References

moth Stanwood WA - Thallophaga hyperborea

911245 Thallophaga hyperborea - Thallophaga hyperborea

second moth of March - Thallophaga hyperborea

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 Lithinini

Genus Thallophaga

Species hyperborea (Thallophaga hyperborea - Hodges#6809)

Hodges Number

6809

Numbers

one of three species in this genus in North America listed at All-Leps

Size

wingspan about 33 mm, based on photo of CBIF specimen

larvae to 23 mm

Identification

Adult: forewing light brown with dark speckling, pale veins, and diffuse dark median line which is slightly wavy and reaches costa; apex pointed but outer margin not obviously falcate; AM and PM lines with conspicuous black dots at veins; slightly darker shading beyond PM line, blending into short faint apical dash

hindwing slightly paler than forewing with faint discal spot, dotted PM line, and no median line

Range

California to British Columbia

Habitat

wet western coniferous forests

Season

adults fly in April and May

larvae from May to August

Food

larvae are solitary defoliators of conifers (Western Hemlock, Douglas-fir, Sitka Spruce, Engelmann Spruce, White Spruce, Western Redcedar, Amabilis Fir, Subalpine Fir, Grand Fir, Mountain Hemlock)

Life Cycle

overwinters as a pupa buried in soil; adults emerge in April and May; larvae present from May to August, pupation occurs in late summer

See Also

Thallophaga taylorata forewing has a straight median line that fades before reaching the costa, its outer margin is more falcate near the apex, and its hindwing has a dark median line - lacking in T. hyperborea (compare images of both species at CBIF)

Internet References

pinned adult image (CBIF)

live larva image plus description, seasonaility, biology, foodplants, distribution (Canadian Forest Service)

presence in California; list (U. of California at Berkeley)

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 23 April, 2006 - 11:34am
Last updated 23 April, 2006 - 12:48pm

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