Fall Hemlock Looper (Lambdina fiscellaria fiscellaria)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Superorder	Holometabola
Order	Lepidoptera
Superfamily	Geometroidea
Family	Geometridae
Subfamily	Ennominae
Tribe	Ennomini
Genus	Lambdina
Species	Lambdina fiscellaria

Scientific Name

Lambdina fiscellaria fiscellaria

Common Name

eastern hemlock looper

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

Brownish and grayish body with spotted head and with many longitudinal lines and stripes. Gray head with small brown and large black spots; gray prothoracic shield with yellowish patches and dark spots; grayish brown thoracic legs. Mostly brownish gray dorsum with indistinct, gray middorsal stripe trimmed in lighter gray; four black dorsal spots on each segment. Grayish white subdorsal stripe tinted with dark yellow near hind margin of segments; many grayish, brownish, or blackish longitudinal lines and stripes below subdorsal stripe. Large grayish spot above black spiracles on some segments; grayish white venter with several dark longitudinal lines. Up to 30 mm.

Food

Balsam fir and eastern hemlock; less commonly eastern larch, pines, spruces, and other conifers; also many deciduous trees and shrubs during outbreaks.

Life Cycle. One generation. Egg overwinters on foliage. Mature caterpillar present in July and August.

Comments

This species and the spring hemlock looper, Lambdina athasaria, often inhabit the same trees of balsam fir and eastern hemlock. In our studies of life history in Connecticut, however, we have found that on any one date the caterpillar of the fall hemlock looper is always larger. The fall hemlock looper has outbreaks much more frequently than does the spring hemlock looper.