Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer: Imago and Caterpillars

bugman

May 10th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

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Beautiful Blue Bug
Sun, May 10, 2009 at 1:44 PM
These blue fellows showed up in late April, proceeded to make a love shack of my grapevines, and disappeared shortly after. A couple of weeks later my vines are covered with these cute, little yellow and black caterpillars. I’m assuming the two are related but I can’t seem to find them on any of the internet searches I’ve done.
Thanks for any info, Rebecca
Mesa, AZ

Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer

Hi Rebecca,
We are so happy to have your photos of the adult moth as well as caterpillars of the Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer, Harrisina metallica , in the same letter. According to BugGuide it is: “Native to southwestern USA and northern Mexico. Occurs from California to Texas, north to Colorado and Utah ” and “Larvae are a severe pest in some California vineyards.” A very similar species, the Grape Leaf Skeletonizer, Harrisina americana, is found in the eastern U.S.

Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer Caterpillars

Grape Leaf Skeletonizer (July 28, 2005)
Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer (August 2, 2008)
Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer (April 3, 2008)
Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer (June 2, 2006)
Western Grape Leaf Skeletonizer (April 10, 2009)

Comments 1

Betsy wrote:
How wonderful to see these photos! My father and I spent many “bonding” afternoons wiping these little guys off the four grapevines in our Phoenix backyard in the 50s and 60s, but I never knew what they were. Thanks for the memories!
Posted 12 Aug 2009 at 7:29 pm ¶