Washed-out Zale (Zale metatoides)

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 metatoides

Common Name

washed-out Zale

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

Speckled and mottled, brown and gray body with pale middorsal stripe expanded laterally on many segments. Gray head with dark brown reticulation, with white chevron on each lobe, and with curved, dark brown line through stemmata. Grayish white middorsal stripe expanded near hind margin of most segments and speckled with brown especially in front of expanded portion; transverse dorsal ridge on A8 with distinct, paired, brownish tubercles; smaller, paired tubercles on other segments; discontinuous subdorsal stripe appearing as series of dark brown spots. Narrow, undulating, dark brown spiracular stripe with darkest sections resembling oblique lines through spiracles. Prolegs on A3 and A4 reduced in size, and those on A10 directed backward and marked with dark brown line laterally. Up to 35 mm.

Food

Jack, pitch, red, and other hard pines.

Life Cycle

One generation. Pupa overwinters in soil. Mature caterpillar present in July and August in southern New England, and mainly in June and July in southern New Jersey.

Comments

We have encountered several color forms of this caterpillar. The "southern" strain in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey is mostly green with pale stripes. The washed-out zale prefers to eat young pine needles.