Minor Angle (Macaria minorata)

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	Macariini
Genus	Macaria

Scientific Name

Macaria minorata

Common Name

minor angle

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

Green body with marked head, frosted dorsum, and obvious pale stripes. Green head with lobes streaked with dark green (with light green reticulation) and reddish brown; streak on lobes with white borders (extensions of subdorsal and spiracular stripes); greenish thoracic legs, increasingly brown toward tip. Dark green middorsal stripe; bluish white dusting on dorsum; wide, white subdorsal stripe with dark green area below. Broad, bluish white spiracular stripe. Up to 20 mm.

Food

Eastern white pine; rarely jack, pitch, and red pines.

Life Cycle

One to two generations. Pupa overwinters in soil or debris. Mature caterpillar present from July to October.

Comments

The mature caterpillar of the minor angle is the smallest species of Macaria on pine. Among the species of Macaria on eastern white pine, the minor angle has the greatest amount of whitish dusting on the dorsum. The minor angle previously was known as Semiothisa minorata.