Page 563 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Erebidae
DISTRIBUTION North and Central America, southern Scandinavia, eastern
Europe, western Russia, Mongolia, and northern China to Japan
HABITAT Forests, wet woodlands, parks, and orchards
HOST PLANTS Variety of deciduous and ornamental trees, and also shrubs,
including hickory (Carya spp.), walnut (Juglans spp.),
apple (Malus spp.), and maple (Acer spp.)
NOTE Widely distributed caterpillar that damages forests and orchards
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated

ADULT WINGSPAN
⁄ – ⁄ in (15–17 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1 ⁄ –1⅜ in (30–35 mm)

HYPHANTRIA CUNEA
FALL WEBWORM 561
(DRURY, 1773)

The female Fall Webworm moth lays her eggs in clusters of
several hundred on the underside of leaves of the food plant. The
caterpillars are social, living together in huge communal webs
constructed over the tips of branches of the host plants. When
feeding, they stay within the protection of the web, which they
steadily expand. The species overwinters in a brown cocoon
made of bits of twig and silk. The moths are on the wing from
midsummer to early fall. There is one generation in the northern
part of their range and two in the south. The Fall Webworm caterpillar has 12 pairs
of small tubercles bearing tufts of long hairs.
It is otherwise highly variable in color with a
Once found only in North America, the species has been yellow to green body, a dorsal black stripe,
introduced around the world, and is now an invasive pest and a lateral yellow stripe. The head is either
black or red.
in Europe and Asia. It can break out in epidemic numbers,
causing economic damage to forests and orchards. The young
caterpillars eat the upper surface of leaves, while the older ones
eat the whole leaf, often defoliating entire trees.

Actual size