PEST PROFILES: MOTH AND BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

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Saddled prominent Description: The first instar is about 1/8-1/4 inch long and reddish black. It has a pair of prominent antler-like horns on the first thoracic segment and 8 pairs of dorsal abdominal protuberances, which appear like long black spikes. Head is dark red. Fifth or final instars are approximately 1 inch long and usually green and with a red saddle mark on the back. Adults are inconspicuous moths; vary from greenish gray or brownish gray to olive with creamy white and black splotches. Damage: Preferred hosts include American beech, sugar maple, yellow birch, paper birch, apple, cherry, mountain maple, oaks, poplar, and witch hazel. Life cycle: Adults begin to emerge from leaf litter in late May. Egg laying, begins about 1 week after female emergence for 10 days. Females deposit eggs singly on the underside of leaves in June or early July; larvae hatch in about 9 days. Larval development is completed by mid-August; larvae crawl down into the leaf litter and spin cocoons for overwintering.