Eastern Pine Elfin (Callophrys niphon)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Superorder	Holometabola
Order	Lepidoptera
Superfamily	Papilionoidea
Family	Lycaenidae
Subfamily	Theclinae
Tribe	Eumaeini
Genus	Incisalia

Scientific Name

Incisalia niphon

Common Name

Eastern Pine Elfin

Maier, C.T.; Lemmon, C.R.; Fengler, J.M.; Schweitzer, D.F.; Reardon, R.C.; Caterpillars on the Foliage of Conifers in the Northeastern United States. Morgantown, WV. USDA Forest Service. Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. FHTET-2004-01. March 2004. 151 p.

Description

Slug-like, densely hairy, dark green body with head usually retracted into thorax and with prominent, pale stripes. Relatively indistinct, greenish white middorsal and spiracular stripes; yellow and white subdorsal and subventral stripes. Up to 15 mm.

Food

Eastern white, jack, pitch, red, and other (hard) pines.

Life Cycle

One generation. Pupa overwinters in soil or debris. Mature caterpillar present from May to July.

Comments

This caterpillar is very well camouflaged on the needles of pines. The similar western pine elfin, Callophrys eryphon, which eats pines, and the bog elfin, C. lanoraieensis, which eats black spruce, also are found in the upper Northeast (mainly in New Hampshire and Maine). The eastern pine elfin formerly was known as Incisalia niphon.