Packard’s gridle moth

Robert W. Duncan Centre de foresterie du Pacifique, Victoria (Colombie-Britannique) / Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, British Columbia

Scientific name: Enypia packardata (Taylor)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae

Distribution

British Columbia

This species is generally distributed throughout coastal British Columbia; it also occurs north to southern Alaska and south to California.

Damage, symptoms and biology

Enypia packardata is a common innocuous solitary defoliator.

Mature larva to 25 mm long. Head, brown, with cream coloured herringbone pattern on each lobe; frontal triangle green. Body, bright green; thin dark green middorsal stripe; white subdorsal stripe extending onto head; white spiracular stripe.

This species overwinters as a fourth- or fifth-instar larva. Larval feeding resumes in the spring and continues until May or June. The pupal stage lasts about 21 days and occurs between June and July. Adults emerge from June to August. Females lay about 55 eggs on foliage. Larvae emerge about two weeks later and feed until the onset of cold weather.

Other information

Similar species: Enypia griseata is very similar but can be distinguished on the basis of its different distribution.

Canadian Forest Service Publications

Packard’s gridle moth

Information on host(s)

The principal hosts of the Enypia packardata are Douglas-fir and western hemlock; other hosts include amabilis fir, grand fir, western redcedar, Sitka spruce and mountain hemlock.