![]() Caterpillars start feeding immediately and feed for 5 or 6 weeks. Egg masses of these forest tent caterpillars have square ends, unlike the tapered ends of the egg cases of the eastern tent caterpillars. Egg masses of 200 or more eggs layed the previous summer over-winter and hatch in early spring. These oval spots readily distinguish them from the related eastern tent caterpillar, which possesses a solid white line running down the back.įorest tent caterpillars have one generation annually. As they age, they develop narrow side stripes of yellow, a wider side stripe of blue, and have a series of white oval spots running down their backs. They are black to dark gray and fuzzy along the bottom edge. Two or more consecutive years of defoliation can substantially affect growth and cause branch and twig die back.Ĭaterpillars grow to about 2 inches in length. ![]() Since defoliation occurs early in the year, healthy trees will usually develop a second crop of leaves and suffer little serious harm. Sometimes they will form wandering swarms in search of additional food sources. ![]() In sufficient quantities, they completely defoliate host trees and even stands of trees. When they are not feeding, they can be observed clustered on their silken mats on lower branches and trunks. Often the first noticeable evidence of forest tent caterpillar attack is a sparse crown and the constant sprinkling of frass. Over-wintering egg cases on twigs of host trees are not particularly conspicuous. Under pressure of high population density, they will feed on many other species of woody trees and shrubs. Host plants include oak, sweet gum, birch, elm, ash, poplar, sugar maple, tupelo, and aspen. It is their close relative, the eastern tent caterpillar that forms tents. They also lay inconspicuous silken pathways to and from branches on which they feed. They do produce, and rest on inconspicuous flat silk mats spun on branches and trunks. Notwithstanding their name, forest tent caterpillars do not build tents. Soon they will be making cocoons and not on walkways and roads.Forest tent caterpillar with quarter for size. These pests come out each year in early spring to late summer, but some years populations are higher than other years. ![]() If caterpillar feeding is severe enough to defoliate a tree, the tree usually recovers and leafs out a second time. These caterpillars are not stinging caterpillars but the hairs sometimes cause skin to react and itch. If you look closely you can see white bristle hairs. The black caterpillars have a white stripe down their backs, brown and yellow bands and a row of blue oval spots on their sides. So there are lots of caterpillars crawling on sidewalks, roads, mulch, and plants! The caterpillars are especially active in the early morning and early evenings. These caterpillars hatched out of their egg masses about 4-6 weeks ago! There can be between 150-400 eggs in an egg mass. The caterpillars feed on wild cherry, crabapples, hawthorn, maples, and a variety of fruit trees. Estoy de Acuerdo / I agreeĮastern Tent Caterpillars have been crawling around. Please note that some applications and/or services may not function as expected when translated. NC State Extension does not guarantee the accuracy of the translated text. As with any Internet translation, the conversion is not context-sensitive and may not translate the text to its original meaning. To the extent there is any conflict between the English text and the translation, English controls.Ĭlicking on the translation link activates a free translation service to convert the page to Spanish. Por favor, tenga en cuenta que algunas aplicaciones y/o servicios pueden no funcionar como se espera cuando se traducen.Įnglish is the controlling language of this page. NC State Extension no garantiza la exactitud del texto traducido. Al igual que con cualquier traducción por Internet, la conversión no es sensible al contexto y puede que no traduzca el texto en su significado original. En la medida en que haya algún conflicto entre la traducción al inglés y la traducción, el inglés prevalece.Īl hacer clic en el enlace de traducción se activa un servicio de traducción gratuito para convertir la página al español. El inglés es el idioma de control de esta página.
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