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Field Guide Descriptions: | Online Resources: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD | Technical Description, Adults: Forbes (1954); Schweitzer et al. (2011) | Technical Description, Immature Stages: Maeir et al., (2011); Schweitzer et al. (2011); Wagner et al. (2011) | |
| Adult Markings: A medium-sized, gray Pinion. Marked with dark dashes, including a long basal dash and scattered shorter dashes over most of the forewings, representing fragments of the normal transverse lines (Forbes, 1954). Spots are obsolete but the lower portion of the reniform is represented by a whitish line (photographs online indicate that there is a reddish- or yellowish-brown patch just above this line). Hindwings are brown. |
| Wingspan: 40 mm (Forbes, 1954) |
| Adult Structural Features: The reproductive structures are illustrated and described by Webster and Thomas (1999), who describe them as distinctly different from L. thujae, the closest related species to L. lemmeri in eastern North America. |
| Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens. |
| Immatures and Development: Larvae are green, marked with dorsal, subdorsal, and lateral stripes consisting of irregular white spots (Wagner et al., 2011); blends in very well with the foliage of cedars. Eggs are very large and hatch in mid-spring -- April and May in New Jersey -- and complete their feeding in mid-summer; prepupal larvae spin cocoons located at the base of their host plants rather than underground; pupation occurs in the fall (Schweitzer et al, 2011). |
| Larvae ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos, especially where associated with known host plants. |