The Plague of Gypsy Moths - Eggs, Pupae, and Adults

This shot is a bit gruesome - this doomed tree is covered in male and female moths, eggs, and a big pile of pupae.

The females have white wings, a tan body, and approximately a two-inch wingspan. They cannot fly. Rather, they simply crawl to a spot near where they pupated, and wait for a male to find them to mate. After mating, female gypsy moths lay a mass of eggs. Each egg mass can hold over a hundred eggs. The males are brown and can fly - you can see one on the pupae.


During the summer of 2016 in Rhode Island (northeast US), these moths, which are an invasive species, were literally everywhere. You couldn't go outside, day or night, without seeing them. All you could hear in the woods was the sound of caterpillars pooping up in the tree canopy - it sounded like rain. Gypsy moth caterpillars wreaked havoc and caused incredible amounts of tree carnage - it was estimated that approximately 3/4 of Rhode Island's forest canopy was destroyed, making this the worst outbreak in at least 15 years. A single caterpillar can eat a square foot of leaf matter in one day - they prefer hardwoods, but will also eat conifers, many of which will not recover.