Pine False Looper (Zale duplicata)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Superorder	Holometabola
Order	Lepidoptera
Superfamily	Noctuoidea
Family	Erebidae
Subfamily	Erebinae
Tribe	Omopterini
Genus	Zale

Scientific Name

Zale duplicata

Common Name

pine false looper Zale moth

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

Purplish brown body with paired tubercles on A8. Gray head with purplish brown reticulation and with white chevron on each lobe. Fragmented, multicolored, wavy middorsal stripe edged with beaded white line; dark purplish brown diagonal spot on posterior half of most segments. Transverse dorsal ridge on A8 with paired tubercles; smaller tubercles on ridge on A9; spiracular swellings with tiny white spots. Prolegs on A3 and A4 reduced in size, and those on A10 directed backward and marked with dark brown line laterally. Up to 30 mm.

Food

Eastern white pine and rarely other pines.

Life Cycle

One generation. Pupa overwinters in soil. Mature caterpillar present in June and July.

Comments

The final instar of this caterpillar and the next four species of Zale apparently are bark mimics. The species are difficult to separate because they are variable in pattern and sometimes color, although the pine false looper usually is the most uniformly colored and the smallest at maturity. A similar species, Zale largera, which eats jack pine in northern New England, apparently is a distinct species.