University of Alberta Museums Search

A large (3.8-4.2 cm wingspan) grey and brown moth. The forewings are a smooth, slightly mottled ash grey, with a large blackish red-brown patch filling the posterior half between the antemedian and postmedian lines. There is also a small dark patch near the apex. Sections of the antemedian and postmedian lines bordering the dark patch are pink, and the top of the patch is bordered by a thin silver-white open U or V-shaped stigma. Hindwings are dull brown. The antennae are simple and both the sexes are alike. Very similar to Syngrapha epigaea, which lacks the dark apical patches and has less prominent dark median patchs, as well as the structural differences which separate the two genera.

The Large Looper is nocturnal and comes to light. Larvae are solitary defoliators of a variety of trees and shrubs. Larvae have been collected in spring and fall, and appear to be the overwintering stage. There is a single brood each year.

No specific Alberta data. Data from Canada (pooled with Alberta data) includes Aspen poplar (Populus tremuloides), willow (Salix), White birch (Betula papyrifera), Balsam poplar (P. balsamifera), and Red alder (Alnus rubifera). Probably a generalist on trees and shrubs, as a variety of additional trees and shrubs have been reported in the literature (see Cunningham and Eichelin, 1978).

Found from Newfoundland west to the Alaska panhandle, south to central California, Arizona and New Mexico in the west and North Carolina in the east. It is found throughout Alberta, from the wooded valleys of the southern Grasslands region north to Zama Lake and Lake Athabasca, as well as in the foothills, mountains and the Cypress Hills.