#hyphantria

Fall Webworm Moth Hyphantria cunea Erebidae

Bug of the Day

Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea), Willistown, PA. September 2017. 

Here’s a caterpillar most find unwelcome on their properties. As the name implies, fall webworms form large tents in trees during late summer into fall, where they can feed on leaves without being attacked by predators (although many parasitic wasps find their way in). Other tent-makers, such as the eastern tent caterpillar, occur in the Mid-Atlantic around mid-to-late spring, helping separate the webworm from similar species. 

The fall webworm can feed on over 600 different species of trees and shrubs, and may have the widest range of host plants for an insect in the world.Often caterpillars defoliate the branches they feed on, and in large numbers, even the trees. Only when the caterpillars are mature do they leave the safety of these tents, wandering to other plants and preparing to pupate.