Bug FAQBlack Looper
Hyposidra talaca · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Geometridae
The Black Looper has a wingspan of about 30 mm and a dark olive-brown body speckled with grey. Its larvae feed on many trees and shrubs, and they can strip the leaves of tea plants, causing serious crop loss.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The adult’s body is dark olive-fuscous with grey speckles, and both wings show faint medial and crenulate post-medial lines. The caterpillar is pinkish-olive green, dotted with black and has dark patches on the 4th and 6th body segments.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan is roughly 30 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
Eco-friendly control methods and its biology have been studied for managing the pest on multipurpose trees. A specific nucleopolyhedrovirus can cause high mortality in the larvae and has been compared with chemical insecticides for tea production.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae feed on the foliage of many plants such as tea (Camellia), coffee, citrus, mango, rubber, and numerous forest and garden species.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Research on tea plantations describes its egg-laying pattern and developmental stages in detail.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Studies note its seasonal occurrence and developmental traits in tea crops.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I control Black Looper infestations?
Biological approaches such as using its nucleopolyhedrovirus or other eco-friendly methods have been studied as alternatives to chemical insecticides.
Source: Wikipedia
What crops does the Black Looper damage?
Its larvae can defoliate tea plants and also feed on coffee, citrus, rubber, mango and many other forest and garden species.
Source: Wikipedia
Where is the Black Looper found?
It is native to a wide region from India through Southeast Asia to Australia, including places like Thailand, Taiwan and Queensland.
Source: Wikipedia
What does the adult Black Looper look like?
The adult has a dark olive-brown body with grey speckles, faint wing lines, and a wingspan of about 30 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Geometridae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyposidra_talaca
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.