Severe defoliation in sugar bushes may reduce sugar content of maple sap and the quantity of sap produced. Consequently, the new complement of buds and leaf tissues that form following defolia- tion do not harden off and branch dieback may result from frost damage in early fall. Feeding injury observed in the tops of beech or sugar maple during July and early August may usually be attributed to saddled prominent, as these moths tend to lay most of their eggs on foliage in the upper half of the crown. The orange humped mapleworm, Symmerista leucitys and green striped mapleworm, Dryocampa rubicunda are also late feeders, but these caterpillars are distinctly different in appearance from that of the saddled prominent. This moth is distributed from eastern Canada, south to Florida and Texas and as far west as Colorado.
Males are usually darker with greyish brown wings.
The pale green eggs are approximately the size of small pinheads and dome shaped. Eight additional pairs of horn-like spines project from the top of individual abdominal segments. Color may vary from light green to yellowish-green or light green with a bluish tint, or brownish. The head is large with a broad reddish lateral band on each side. The back of the body usually has a reddish or purplish, saddled-shaped patch, but it may be indistinct or absent.