Forest tent caterpillar. The forest tent caterpillar (FTC), Malacosoma disstria, is a native defoliator of a wide variety of hardwood trees and shrubs and can be found throughout the range of all hardwood forests in North America. Quick facts. FTCs are often mistakenly called army worms.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/treecare/forest_health/ftc/index.html
Forest tent caterpillars are ectotherms so they rely on sources of heat from the environment to raise their body temperatures. In order to do this, they bask together and benefit from group thermoregulation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Tent_Caterpillar_Moth
The life cycle of the tent caterpillars begins about midsummer, when the female moths encircle twigs on the host tree with bands of eggs 12-24 mm wide, covered with a dark-colored glue-like substance.
https://www.poulins.ca/pest-library/tent-caterpillars
Widespread outbreaks of the forest tent caterpillar occur about every 10 years, but there have been lulls as short as six years and as long as 16 years between outbreaks. When they do occur, they may last from three to six years, depending on weather conditions and other natural control factors.
https://www.poulins.ca/pest-library/tent-caterpillars
The forest tent caterpillar (FTC), Malacosoma disstria, is a native defoliator of a wide variety of hardwood trees and shrubs and can be found throughout the range of all hardwood forests in North America. FTCs primarily feed on: 1  aspen.  birch.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/treecare/forest_health/ftc/index.html
Forest tent caterpillar: Life cycle. Eggs mass: Eggs hatch in early spring about the time of bud break, mid-April to mid-May. The caterpillars have five growth stages before pupating, each lasting seven to ten days. Adult moths emerge and lay eggs in late June into early July. Caterpillars: During the early growth stages, caterpillars remain in clusters on the leaves. As the caterpillars get larger, they consume increasing amounts of leaves and wander widely in search of more food. They often drop from defoliated twigs to the ground. Caterpillars may grow up to 2½ inches long.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/treecare/forest_health/ftc/lifecycle.html
There are four species of tent caterpillars pitching camp across Canada, but the most notorious, the forest tent caterpillar, doesn’t really live in a tent. The others – the eastern, western and prairie tent caterpillar – true to their names, spin tent-like webs for protection during the larval stage. The forest tent caterpillar is by far the most prevalent and widely distributed of the four species, occurring from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.
https://www.poulins.ca/pest-library/tent-caterpillars
Adult and egg mass. The larvae of this species are notorious tent caterpillars. Tent caterpillars do not make tents, but rather, weave a silky sheet where they lie together during molting. They lay down strands of silk as they move over branches and then travel along them like tightrope walkers. They follow pheromones secreted by other larvae rather than following the silk lines themselves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Tent_Caterpillar_Moth
Many caterpillar species of this group construct a thick, silken tent in the crotches of branches or small limbs on the host tree. The larvae do not feed inside the silken structure as the does the fall webworm. Rather, during the day, they leave the protective silk nest and feed on the foliage of neighboring limbs.
http://extension.missouri.edu/p/IPM1019-13
The forest tent caterpillar (FTC), Malacosoma disstria, is a native defoliator of a wide variety of hardwood trees and shrubs and can be found throughout the range of all hardwood forests in North America. FTCs primarily feed on: aspen.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/treecare/forest_health/ftc/index.html
tent caterpillar cycle
The tent caterpillars hatch eggs in early spring about the time of bud break, from mid-April to mid-May. Tent caterpillar hatch eggs in early spring about the time of bud break, mid-April to mid-May.