Many other species of noctuids are commonly known as “‘cutworms.” The larvae 
are usually stout, naked, and dull grayish or brownish. They are seldom seen, 
however, because of their habit of feeding at night and hiding on the ground or under 
bark during the daytime. A number of species feed on the roots, or on portions of 
stems or foliage near the ground; many others climb the stems or trunks of their 
hosts and feed on buds, flowers, fruit, and other succulent parts. 
The more important species of cutworms in nurseries and forests in eastern 
America and some of their hosts are as follows: Feralia jocosa (Guenée), the 
joker—hemlock, spruce, larch; /dia aemula (Hubner), the spruce epizeuxis— 
spruce (particularly in ornamental plantings; the larvae commonly are found in 
webbed masses of dried needles and frass on the branches); Panthea furcilla 
(Packard), the tufted white pine caterpillar—pines, P. acronyctoides (Walker), 
the tufted spruce caterpillar—spruce; Papaipema furcata (Smith)—ash seedlings 
in nurseries in the Lake States; Colocasia propinquilinea (Grote)—birch, beech, 
maple, walnut; C. flavicornis (Smith)—hickory; Charadra deridens (Guenée)— 
oak, maple, elm, birch; Raphia frater Grote, the yellow-marked caterpillar— 
poplar, willow; Euxoa scandens (Riley), the white cutworm—young white and 
overcup oaks (serious defoliation reported in Minnesota); the zebra caterpillar, 
Melanchra picta (Harris)—usually most abundant on herbaceous vegetation, but 
occasionally damages pine seedlings in nurseries in the northern Great Plains; 
Orthosia hibisci (Guenée)—the opening buds and fruit of many deciduous trees 
and shrubs and a few conifers; Lithophane laticinerea Grote—many species of 
deciduous trees (severe defoliation of red maples on islands in Penobscot River, 
Maine); the green fruitworm, L. antennata (Walker)—ash, boxelder (has occured 
in larger numbers locally in New York and Vermont); Anomogyna elimata 
(Guenée), the chameleon caterpillar—various conifers, especially balsam fir and 
jack pine (one of the most common of the cutworm larvae on conifers in the 
Northeast); and Palthis angulalis (Hubner), the spruce harlequin—a wide variety 
of conifers, especially balsam fir and white spruce, also occasionally on various 
deciduous trees. 
Clean cultivation is recommended for preventing the development of damaging 
populations of cutworms in forest nurseries. 
Order Coleoptera—Beetles 
The order Coleoptera contains more named insects than any other; in fact, over a 
fourth of the named animals are beetles. The estimated number of named beetle 
species is about 350,000 (27), and about | ,000 new species are named each year. 
Over 26,000 species occur in the United States (980). Beetles can be distinguished 
from all other insects, except earwigs, by their hard and horny or leathery forewings 
that meet in a straight line along the middle of the back. The forewings, or elytra, 
cover the membranous hindwings used for flying; some species are flightless and 
lack hindwings. 
All beetles have chewing mouth parts and complete metamorphosis, 1.e., eggs 
hatch to produce larvae that feed to maturity; then the larvae transform to inactive, 
nonfeeding pupae which become adults that mate and lay eggs to repeat the life 
cycle. The life cycle varies greatly in length, from 10 or more generations per year 
to | generation in many years. For most beetles the larval stage is long and the egg, 
pupal, and adult stages are of short duration. 
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