What is "tent caterpillar"

Tent \Tent\, n. [OE. tente, F. tente, LL. tenta, fr. L. tendere, tentum, to stretch. See Tend to move, and cf. Tent a roll of lint.]

1. A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, -- used for sheltering persons from the weather, especially soldiers in camp.

   Within his tent, large as is a barn.
   --Chaucer.

2. (Her.) The representation of a tent used as a bearing.

   Tent bed, a high-post bedstead curtained with a tentlike canopy.

   Tent caterpillar (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of gregarious caterpillars which construct on trees large silken webs into which they retreat when at rest. Some of the species are very destructive to fruit trees. The most common American species is the larva of a bombycid moth ( Clisiocampa Americana). Called also lackery caterpillar, and webworm.

n. (context entomology English) A larva belonging to any of a number of species of moths of the genus (taxlink Malacosoma genus noshow=1), known for destructive infestation of trees in which the leaves are consumed and prominent, silken tent-like structures are constructed in the branches.

n. the larvae of moths that build communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees

Tent caterpillars are moderately sized caterpillars, or moth larvae, belonging to the genus Malacosoma in the family Lasiocampidae. Twenty-six species have been described, six of which occur in North America and the rest in Eurasia. Some species are considered to have subspecies as well. They are often considered pests due to their habit of defoliating trees. They are among the most social of all caterpillars and exhibit many noteworthy behaviors.

Tent caterpillars are readily recognized because they are social, colorful, diurnal and build conspicuous silk tents in the branches of host trees. Some species, such as the eastern tent caterpillar, Malacosoma americanum, build a single large tent which is typically occupied through the whole of the larval stage, while others build a series of small tents that are sequentially abandoned. Whereas tent caterpillars make their tents in the nodes and branches of a tree's limbs, webworms enclose leaves and small branches at the ends of the limbs.