Forest Semilooper

Declana floccosa · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Geometridae

Damages trees, gardens or crops. The forest semilooper larvae eat leaves of many native and exotic shrubs and trees, so they can damage garden plants and trees.

Source: Wikipedia

Forest Semilooper
Photo: Possums' End, CC BY

Adults have a wingspan of about 27 to 35 mm and show a lot of colour variation. It is found only in New Zealand.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

The wingspan ranges from 27 to 35 mm and colour patterns vary greatly.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It occurs only in New Zealand.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

A long-term study showed the population fell sharply in the mid-1980s and began to recover in the late 1990s.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Adults are attracted to light and are often caught in mercury-vapour light traps.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

The species is endemic to New Zealand.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

Declana floccosa is also called the forest semilooper or manuka moth and belongs to the Geometridae family.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Forest Semilooper photo 3
Photo: Donald Hobern, CC BY
Forest Semilooper photo 4
Photo: Possums' End, CC BY

Questions people ask

Where is the forest semilooper found?

It is endemic to New Zealand.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Geometridae)

Willow BeautyWillow BeautyPeribatodes rhomboidariaPale BeautyPale BeautyCampaea perlataDamages trees, gardens or cropsLarge Lace-border MothLarge Lace-border MothScopula limboundataDamages trees, gardens or cropsRiband WaveRiband WaveIdaea aversataYellow Shell MothYellow Shell MothCamptogramma bilineataLarge Maple Spanworm MothLarge Maple Spanworm MothProchoerodes lineolaDamages trees, gardens or crops

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declana_floccosa

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

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