Hyphantria cunea
Pest description and damage These gregarious caterpillars spin web-like tents in branch tips of deciduous trees including apple, cherry, peach, pecan, English walnut, black walnut, ash, boxelder, birch, chokecherry, elm, hickory, linden, poplar, sycamore, white oak, willow and sometimes roses and other shrubs. The caterpillars feed on enclosed leaves as the tent fills with dead leaves and frass. Young caterpillars are pale greenish or yellow with a dark stripe down the back and a yellow stripe along the sides. Long silky hairs arise from yellow and black tubercles. When mature, the caterpillars are over 1.25 inches in length, covered with yellow, rusty then black colored silky hairs. Adult moths have a 1-inch wingspan and are bright white with orange and black markings on the underside of the abdomen. Whitish moth scales cover masses of 200 to 500 greenish eggs.
For biology, life history, monitoring and management
See:
Cottonwood (Populus)-Fall webworm
See "Caterpillar" in:
Management-chemical control
See Table 2 in: