Eastern tent caterpillar
The eastern tent caterpillar is a hairy caterpillar with blue, white, black and orange markings. It lives with hundreds of brothers and sisters in a big silk tent that they build together in the fork of a tree. Later it turns into a moth that flies at night.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The caterpillars build the big wall of their tent facing the morning sun, so it warms up quickly.
They have meal times: just before sunrise, in the afternoon and after sunset. Then they all march back to the tent.
A mother moth lays 200 to 300 eggs in one batch. The tiny caterpillars wait inside the eggs all winter.
If a wasp comes close, one caterpillar starts wiggling and soon dozens are thrashing together to scare it away.
Below 15 degrees they cannot digest their food, so they sunbathe in tight groups to warm up.
Most asked questions about Eastern tent caterpillar
?Are eastern tent caterpillars harmful?
Not to people. They only eat the leaves of trees like cherry and apple.
?Why do tent caterpillars make tents?
The tent keeps them warm like a little greenhouse, protects them and gives them a home base between meals.
?What do tent caterpillars turn into?
Each one spins a cocoon, and about two weeks later a moth comes out and flies at night.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Malacosoma americanum
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Lasiocampidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lasiocampidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Eastern tent caterpillar (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by 小小小袪. CC BY-SA 2.5 ca, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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