noun

• A chiefly American moth caterpillar that lives in groups inside communal silken webs in a tree, which it often defoliates.

  Several species in the family Lasiocampidae, especially Malacosoma americana

  ‘Farms should minimize or eliminate the exposure of pregnant mares to the eastern tent caterpillar.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The forest tent caterpillar is the major pest in hardwood stands, and severe outbreaks were reported in the area during the 20th century.’
  • ‘From the way tent caterpillar nests are proliferating on wild cherry, apple and crabapple trees, cuckoos will be encouraged to raise large families, as those pupae are cuckoos' staple food.’
  • ‘This decrease might be due to severe tent caterpillar outbreaks that are frequently reported in the area.’
  • ‘I've found that tent caterpillars and army webworms come into orchards in spotlike fashion.’
  • ‘In the tent caterpillars of eastern North America, for example, the larval stage lasts eight weeks.’
  • ‘Eastern tent caterpillars and wild black cherry trees are native to Central Kentucky.’
  • ‘It is a known fact that cuckoos' clutch sizes vary with the availability of tent caterpillars.’
  • ‘Their nesting success will depend on whether there is a plentiful supply of tent caterpillars this year or not.’
  • ‘To combat another common pest, tent caterpillars, use a forked branch to wind up the webs and expose the caterpillars to predators.’
  • ‘Wilted cherry leaves also attract eastern tent caterpillars, which were especially abundant in central Kentucky this spring.’
  • ‘Within a month of the outbreak, researchers from the University of Kentucky identified the Eastern tent caterpillars as a likely cause behind the syndrome.’
  • ‘The adult Eastern tent caterpillar is a reddish brown moth with two lighter colored stripes across each wing.’
  • ‘Shortly after the syndrome reached its zenith in early May, scientists identified cyanide poisoning from cherry trees, passed to horses through secretions from Easter tent caterpillars, as a leading suspect in the disease.’
  • ‘Ironically, Roland's work on alpine butterflies and tent caterpillars in patchy environments represents some of the best fieldwork to date on movement and scale.’
  • ‘As the New Yorker writer Renata Adler acerbically puts it, there are those who ‘cannot leave a text intact, eating through it leaf and branch, like tent caterpillars, leaving everywhere their mark’.’
  • ‘While some scientists suspect Eastern tent caterpillars were the cause of MRLS, the exact cause of the disease remains unknown.’