Forest Pests: Insects, Diseases & Other Damage Agents

Jack Pine Looper (Macaria marmorata)

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. Greenish body with mostly reddish brown head and with conspicuous, pale subdorsal and spiracular stripes; also purplish form. Reddish brown head with lobes marked in dark brown herringbone pattern; yellow patch behind stemmata (extension of spiracular stripe); purplish brown thoracic legs. Dark green middorsal stripe; yellowish white subdorsal stripe with one or two wavy, purplish or dark green longitudinal lines immediately below, especially on anterior body segments. Broad, yellow spiracular stripe; green prolegs usually with purple shading near base. Up to 22 mm.

Food. Jack pine.

Life Cycle. One generation in Maine. Pupa overwinters in soil and debris. Mature caterpillar present in August and September.

Comments. This and several other species of Macaria on pines have purplish or reddish forms whose color may result from crowding during rearing. The northern distribution and the wide, yellow spiracular stripe should help to distinguish this species from other greenish species of Macaria that eat hard pines. In northern New England and southern Canada, there also is an undescribed species of Macaria on jack pine (D. Ferguson, pers. comm.). Its adult resembles that of the bicolored angle, M. bicolorata. Because of their greenish bodies and pale stripes, caterpillars of the pine-feeding species of Macaria are well camouflaged on needles. Until recent taxonomic changes, the jack pine looper was known as Semiothisa banksianae (D. Ferguson, pers. comm.).

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