INSECT ENEMIES OF WESTERN FORESTS 



101 



The Monterey pine looper (Nepytia umbrosaria (Pack.) ) in the 

 larval stage is a light-green, smooth caterpillar, which ties the 

 needles of young Monterey pines together at the tips of branches 

 and feeds on them in central California. The adult moth is mottled 

 gray with a wingspread of about iy 2 inches. The phantom hemlock 

 looper (Nepytia phantasmaria (Stkr.) ) feeds on western hemlock 

 in Washington and British Columbia, often occurring in large 

 numbers in outbreaks of the hemlock looper or blackheaded bud- 

 worm. The moths are white with numerous black markings on the 

 wings. The false hemlock looper (Nepytia canosaria (Wlkr.)) 

 feeds on hemlock, Douglas-fir, larch, and spruce in the Northwest 

 and Canada. 



Figure 42. — The New Mexico fir looper (Galenara consimilis) : A, Male moth; 

 B, female moth; C, pupa (A-C slightly enlarged) ; D, egg, greatly enlarged. 

 (Drawings by Edmonston.) 



The New Mexico fir looper (Galenara consimilis Hein.) (fig. 42) 

 has periodically destroyed timber over considerable areas in the 

 spruce-fir type at the higher elevations in the southern Rocky 

 Mountain region, particularly in New Mexico. Douglas-fir seems 



