Phantom Hemlock Looper

Nepytia phantasmaria

Nepytia phantasmaria, the phantom hemlock looper, is a species of geometrid moth in the family Geometridae. It was described by Herman Strecker in 1899 and is found in North America.
The Phantom Hemlock Looper Moth Leaving the porch light on seemed to attract a “flock” of these fellows. The top photo is a female while the lower one is a male. Once again ID was a bit of a problem. Too many moths look the same. It was quite the experience taking the photos with potential subjects fluttering all around my head and landing anywhere they chose! Canada,False Hemlock Looper,Geotagged,Nepytia canosaria,Nepytia phantasmaria,Phantom Hemlock Looper

Appearance

Adult: forewing white with thick black or dark gray lines and one or more dark-scaled veins; AM and PM lines scalloped; discal spot dark, usually surrounded by dark lines; terminal line a series of dark spots; hindwing similar but discal spot not surrounded by dark lines, and veins not dark-scaled.

Larva: head green with ten prominent black spots; body yellowish-green dorsally with faint green middorsal stripe; subdorsal stripe white, edged on either side with fine dark green line; supraspiracular area green with pair of wavy broken dark lines; spiracular stripe yellow.
[adapted from description by Canadian Forest Service]
Phantom Hemlock Looper I gather from BugGuide that this isn't always particularly common, but this year the area has a population boom. I saw, I think at least 4 of these yesterday, all dead. It must have been just a bit too cold last night, or perhaps they've just laid their eggs and finished their life cycle. Fall,Geotagged,Nepytia phantasmaria,Phantom Hemlock Looper,United States,moth week 2018

Distribution

Southern British Columbia to California.

Food

Larvae feed mainly on foliage of Western Hemlock and Douglas-fir; other hosts include Grand Fir, Amabilis Fir, Sitka Spruce, Western Redcedar.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/88329
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyGeometridae
GenusNepytia
SpeciesNepytia phantasmaria
Photographed in
Canada
United States of America