Comments wildscaper has made
Eastern tent caterpillars don't spit slime
Dear Umbra and caterpillar chatters:
My colleagues and I pondered these furry colleagues on a post-lunch walk through the Virginia woodlands near our office today.
The tents were vacant and the wild black cherry tree that once supported them in their congenial hairiness nearly denuded. We could palpably hear the tree sighing in relief and preparing to releaf.
A couple of points of clarification about the life of these larvae. That trail they leave upon heading out for work in the morning is not slime. It is silk. As in pajamas. Few people sport slime pajamas but this natural fiber they create is pretty cool. No, I haven't harvested it and spun my own jammies however.
The eastern tent caterpillar is a very picky eater-- as are many if not most caterpillars. It's favorite food source is wild black cherry, one of our noblest hardwoods. These life forms have co-evolved quite satisfactorily. Put some of these caterpillars in a non-native tree or shrub-- say an exotic cherry, plum, apple or crabapple perhaps-- and the damage done might be significant or at least more noticed. But generally, just throw the critters some native cherries, plums or crabapple, and no one really gets hurt.
As for who eats what, I've observed a number of our migrant and nesting warblers chow down on young tent caterpillars if the sequence of caterpillar growth and warbler arrival is just right. And then there are those magnificent cuckoos which also love to pillage the invasive gypsy moth caterpillars. It is said that these wonder birds gobble down the caterpillars, hairiness and all, and once their stomach lining is maxxed out with spiny protuberances from caterpillar bodies, they are able to vomit (or cough if you will) up the old lining and start perforating the new one, all the time relishing the gourmet goo contained within. Is that a cuckoo call I hear or a cuckoo cough?
Bt, the "safe" biopesticide sold as Thuricide and under other names does impact other caterpillars in those wild black cherry trees. In addition to the eastern tent caterpillars that some find offensive, wild black cherry also supports the caterpillars of the generally more appreciated eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly and that of the red-spotted purple as well. And there are other beautiful leaf eaters on this tree as well, but I've rambled enough.
WildscaperOn Umbra on tent caterpillars posted 1 year, 6 months ago 14 Responses