Eastern Tent Caterpillar

These tents are then woven by these caterpillars?

great info werdgent!

Biology

The eastern tent caterpillar overwinters as an egg, within an egg mass of 150 to 400 eggs. These masses (pictured right) are covered with a shiny, black varnish-like material and encircle branches that are about pencil-size or smaller in diameter.



The caterpillars hatch about the time the buds begin to open, usually in early March. These insects are social; caterpillars from one egg mass stay together and spin a silken tent in a crotch of a tree. Caterpillars from two or more egg masses may unite to form one large colony. During the heat of the day or rainy weather, the caterpillars remain within the tent. They emerge to feed on leaves in the early morning, evening, or at night when it is not too cold.



The larvae are hairy caterpillars, black with a white stripe down the back, brown and yellow lines along the sides, and a row of oval blue spots on the sides. As the larvae feed on the foliage, they increase the size of the web until it is a foot or more in length. In 4 to 6 weeks the caterpillars are full grown and 2 to 2-1/2 inches long. At this time, they begin to wander away individually from the nest in search of protected areas to spin a cocoon. The cocoon is about 1 inch long and made of closely woven white or yellowish silk and is attached to other objects by a few coarser threads.



The adult moth (pictured right) emerges from the cocoon about 3 weeks later. The moth is reddish-brown with two pale stripes running diagonally across each forewing. Moths mate and females begin to lay eggs on small branches. The eggs will hatch next spring. There is just one generation per year.

So they do find ways of staying dry in the pouring rain!I don't think anybody likes being soaked ,especially if the rain is accompanied by cold temperatures.

I thinks so. This was early morning, I think it was in the 'tent' hiding from the rain yesterday and just came back out.

Very interesting!! Did it just emerge?