Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth
Malacosoma disstria
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Nocturnal
- Social
- Colony
- Biome
- Temperate forest
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Camouflage
- Status
- Common
About
Despite its name, the forest tent caterpillar never builds a tent — its caterpillars instead cluster in silken mats on tree trunks during molting. Adults are small tan moths that live only a few days, just long enough to mate and lay overwintering egg bands around host twigs.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
- 2.caterpillarA voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
- 3.cocoonA silk cocoon spun in leaf litter or soil while the body remodels into a winged adult.
- 4.mothA winged adult with feathery antennae and scaled wings, most active after dark.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Lasiocampidae
- Genus
- Malacosoma
- Species
- Malacosoma disstria