Montana Field Guide

The wings of the Glover's Silkmoth (Hyalophora gloveri) are dark brown to red-brown. The gray area outside the white postmedian band does not contain any red. The crescent spots on the forewings and hindwings are white, although occasionally the spots on the forewing may be reduced or absent. The wing span is about 80 - 100 mm (Opler et al. 2010).

Glover's Silkmoth females lay one or two eggs at the base of larch needles, or on leaves and twigs of other host plants. The larvae hatch in less than two weeks and are solitary feeders. The cocoon is compact and spun close to the ground on the trunk or stem of the host plant or on nearby thick undergrowth. There is one flight from May-July (Opler et al. 2010).

Woodland with poorly drained, boggy, acid soil; suburban gardens; and a wide variety of wooded habitats (Opler et al. 2010).

In the east, Columbia Silkmoth (Hyalophora columbia) larvae feed on tamarack (Larix laricina). Also in the east, larvae in western Ontario eat pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica), speckled alder (Alnus rugosa), and white birch (Betula papyrifera). In the west the larvae feed on western chokecherry (Prunus demissa), bitter cherry (P. emarginata), bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), wild roses (Rosa sp.), willows (Salix), buffalo berry (Shepherdia argentea), Russian olive (Eleagnus angustifolius), and buckbrush (Ceanothus). Adults do not feed (Opler et al. 2010).