Eastern Tent Caterpillar
From Bugwoodwiki
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USDA Forest Service. 1979. A guide to common insects and diseases of forest trees in the northeastern United States. Northeast. Area State Priv. For., For. Insect and Disease Management., Broomall, PA. p. 123, illus.
The eastern tent caterpillar is a late-spring defoliator of many hardwood tree species. In addition to the damage caused by defoliation, the dirty, silken trees--which are filled with frass and cast larval skins--can ruin the appearance of ornamentals. The preferred hosts of this insect are wild cherry and abandoned apple trees, but it also attacks many other species of forest, shade, and fruit trees.
Caterpillars emerge from the eggs in early spring, about when buds are opening. After a short feeding period, caterpillars from one or more egg mass spin a tent in a tree crotch. This tent enlarges as the caterpillars grow. A mature caterpillar, 2 to 2½ inches long, is black with a continuous white stripe along the middle of the back, bordered on each side by a broken reddish-brown line. Each segment has a small, vertical blue mark on the side.
Pupation occurs within a loosely woven, whitish-yellow cocoon. The adults emerge in early summer, depositing their eggs in bands around small twigs of host trees. The brownish egg masses have hard, shiny coverings. The larvae do not emerge until the following spring. There is one generation per year.
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 Photo by Lacy L. Hyche, Auburn University, Bugwood.org |  Photo by William H. Hoffard, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org |
