|scientific name Hypagyrtis piniata |
common name Pine Variant
Mixedwood and coniferous boreal forest.
Adults fly in July in BC. No information available for Alberta.
The hindwing margin is slightly more scalloped in Hypagyrtis than other similar, mid-sized grey geometrids; it is otherwise difficult to characterize this genus externally without visual comparison to similar species in the Boarmiini such as Aethalura, Iridopsis and Protoboarmia. This genus is taxonomically very difficult, and there are no reliable genitalic differences among piniata and unipunctaria; H. piniata is associated only with conifers in Alberta, and supposedly lacks the brownish shading in the subterminal area found in H. unipunctaria. Piniata females are much smaller than unipunctaria, with a wingspan of about 32mm compared to 38 - 40mm for unipunctaria; piniata males are only slightly smaller than unipunctaria, with slightly less scalloped hindwing margins (Handfield 1999).
The mottled green, brown and black larva resembles a conifer twig, and overwinters exposed on tree trunks and branches (Wagner et al. 2001). Adults come to light (Handfield 1999).
Not of concern.
Larvae feed on conifers, especially balsam fir (Abies), white spruce (Picea), jack pine (Pinus)and tamarack (Larix)(Prentice 1963). Despite their apparently broad acceptance of conifer hosts, this species is not know from the southern boreal or foothills region in Alberta.
Nova Scotia to north-central Alberta, with a possibly disjunct population in interior BC. South in the East to Minnesota, Mississippi, Maryland and Georgia (McGuffin 1977, Wagner et al. 2001).
Comments are published according to our submission guidelines. The EH Strickland Entomological Museum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed.