Eastern Tent Caterpillar

Description:

These highly social caterpillars build silky tents soon after they emerge. The tents absorb heat from the early morning sun, and serve as a place to come and warm up after a day of relentless foraging. Tent caterpillars excrete about half of the energy they consume in the form of fecal pellets. During an outbreak, these pellets are produced at such a rate and quantity they can mimic rain falling from the forest canopy. Eventually, these caterpillars transform into the Lackey moth.