Forest Pests: Insects, Diseases & Other Damage Agents

Imperial Moth (Eacles imperialis imperialis)

Maier, C.T., C.R. Lemmon, J.M. Fengler, D.F. Schweitzer, and R.C. Reardon. 2004. Caterpillars on the Foliage of Conifers in the Northeastern United States. FHTET-2004-1. Morgantown, WV: USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team; 151 p.

Description. Large, hairy, dark brown to grayish black body with many pale dorsal hairs and prominent, yellowish white spiracles; also bright green form. Brownish head with black sides; brown thoracic legs with black base. Spined, paired, dorsal tubercles on T2, T3, and sometimes first few abdominal segments; many long whitish hairs dorsally and shorter, less dense ones laterally. Spiracles ringed with black; short middorsal horn on A9 and A10; prolegs larger on A10 than on other segments. Up to 80 mm.

Food. Pitch, red, and other hard pines; also many deciduous trees.

Life Cycle. One generation. Pupa overwinters in soil. Mature caterpillar present from July to October.

Comments. Both the brown and the green form of this caterpillar eat the foliage of deciduous and coniferous trees. Like the pine devil, Citheronia sepulcralis, this species had disappeared from most of New England by 1960. It does still occur on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The pine imperial moth, Eacles imperialis pini, which usually eats pines, occurs in northern Vermont, northern New York, and southern Canada.

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