Forest tent caterpillar
The forest tent caterpillar is a fuzzy caterpillar with blue and yellow stripes and a row of white spots down its back. Its family members travel together along silk trails, like a little marching parade. Later it turns into a furry yellow or tan moth.
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Fun facts
Despite its name, it does not build a tent. The caterpillars weave a flat silk sheet and rest on it together.
The caterpillars leave silk trails with a special smell, and the others follow them to food.
A mother lays up to 300 eggs in a ring on a twig and covers them with a glue that keeps them from drying out and freezing.
The caterpillars sunbathe together to warm up, which helps them grow faster.
A big caterpillar is about 5 to 6.5 centimetres long.
Most asked questions about Forest tent caterpillar
?Does the forest tent caterpillar make a tent?
No. Unlike its cousins, it spins a flat silk mat to rest on instead of a tent.
?Is the forest tent caterpillar harmful?
Not to people. In some years there are so many that they strip trees bare, but most trees grow new leaves.
?What does the forest tent caterpillar eat?
Leaves of many trees, like oak, aspen and maple.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Malacosoma disstria
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Lasiocampidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lasiocampidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Forest tent caterpillar moth (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 Greg Hume. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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