Spruce climbing cutworm
- French common name: Autographe de l'épinette
- Scientific name: Syngrapha alias (Ottolengui)
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Lepidoptera
- Family: Noctuidae
Distribution
Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador
This species occurs throughout British Columbia; it also occurs north to Great Slave Lake, south to California and east to Newfoundland.
Damage, symptoms and biology
Syngrapha alias is a common solitary defoliator.
Mature larva up to 28 mm long. Head, green unmarked. Body, green, addorsal, subdorsal and spiracular white stripes; addorsal stripes broader than subdorsal and spiracular stripes. Two pairs of midabdominal prolegs instead of the normal four found in other cutworms.
This species overwinters in the larval stage. Larvae are present from May to June, pupation occurs in June, and adults emerge from June through August.
Canadian Forest Service Publications
Information on host(s)
The principal hosts of Syngrapha alias are Engelmann spruce, white spruce, Sitka spruce, black spruce, western hemlock and Douglas-fir; other hosts include amabilis fir, grand fir and subalpine fir.
Main host(s)
Secondary host(s)
American beech, Colorado spruce, jack pine, lodgepole pine, Norway spruce, red spruce, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, subalpine fir, tamarack
Photos
Dion Manastyrski Centre de foresterie du Pacifique, Victoria (Colombie-Britannique) / Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, British Columbia
Dion Manastyrski Centre de foresterie du Pacifique, Victoria (Colombie-Britannique) / Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, British Columbia
Dion Manastyrski Centre de foresterie du Pacifique, Victoria (Colombie-Britannique) / Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, British Columbia
Dion Manastyrski Centre de foresterie du Pacifique, Victoria (Colombie-Britannique) / Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, British Columbia
Dion Manastyrski Centre de foresterie du Pacifique, Victoria (Colombie-Britannique) / Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, British Columbia
