Coverage and Use

From Bugwoodwiki

Maier, C.T., C.R. Lemmon, J.M. Fengler, D.F. Schweitzer, and R.C. Reardon. 2004. Caterpillars on the Foliage of Conifers in the Northeastern United States. FHTET-2004-1. Morgantown, WV: USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team; 151 p.

We have illustrated and described many of the common caterpillars that eat the foliage of coniferous trees and shrubs in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Although our color manual will be useful for identifying caterpillars anywhere in eastern North America, it should have its greatest utility in New England, New York, and New Jersey, where we sampled most extensively. We have included some caterpillars, especially pine feeders, only found south of Long Island, New York. Our surveys in southern and western parts of the Northeast and in the northern one-third of Maine were very limited.

We collected most of the photographed caterpillars directly from their food plants, which yielded important data about their diet and true color in nature. In this manual, we describe caterpillars that eat mainly live foliage during their lives. We have excluded most of the species that feed upon cones (Cydia, Dioryctria, Endopiza, Eucosma, and Eupithecia species), make pitch nodules (Retinia species), or exclusively bore into shoots, buds, and twigs (Argyresthia, Diorcytria, Eucosma, and Rhyacionia species). Larger caterpillars, which are more easily seen, are emphasized in the species accounts.

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