Small Engrailed (NPS Catoctin Mountain Park Butterflies and Moths)

Small Engrailed

Ectropis crepuscularia

Summary ⁶

The Engrailed and Small Engrailed (Ectropis crepuscularia) are moths of the family Geometridae. They are distributed across most of Europe. There is a debate as to whether they make up one species, or whether E. crepuscularia actually refers only to the Small Engrailed, with the Engrailed proper being separable as E. bistortata.

Habitat ⁷

Boreal mixedwood and aspen forests.

Life cycle ⁸

Eggs are laid in groups of 10 to 20 in bark crevices and under moss on tree boles, hatching in about a week. Young larve feed on understory plants, while older larvae move into the tree canopy (Morris 1970). The pupa overwinters in the duff layer on the ground. The twig-mimicking larvae (Saddleback Looper) have occasionally caused noticeable defoliation in BC (McGuffin 1977). A detailed larval description is given by McGuffin (1977) and the mature larva is illustrated by Wagner et al. (2001).

Sources and Credits

(c) Kjeld Brem, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by Kjeld Brem
František ŠARŽÍK, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/81254.jpg
(c) Donald Hobern, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8107/8657699752_ebaaa836cd_o.jpg
(c) Julie Filiberti, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Julie Filiberti
(c) Kent McFarland, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5550/9321407776_2bb602a987_o.jpg
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectropis_crepuscularia
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31885248
(c) University of Alberta Museums, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/31885249

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Small Engrailed

Summary 6

Habitat 7

Life cycle 8