The snout is very short. Adults are the most damaging stage, feeding on the edges and thereby scalloping the leaves of many plants. The adults then lay their eggs in the soil, where the small legless larvae develop on roots. In high populations, adults are attracted to lights, where they may become a nuisance inside houses. Cankerworms , Alsophila pometaria and Paleacrita vernata.
Cankerworms feed on chestnut .
The measuring-worms or inchworms of these moths eat apple foliage during the spring. When the caterpillars are abundant, they may defoliate the trees. In early spring, caterpillars hatch from the eggs laid on the trees in late fall or early spring. Older caterpillars are black or greenish with stripes. Each species has only one generation a year.