cacoon

[woodjin]

In the woods this morning I saw a few trees with these heavy cacoon infestations. I have seen these cacoons before but never quite so concentrated and numerous.

Jeff

 

[woodjin]

Incidently, one tree would be affected like this and then you wouldn't see another for another mile.

Jeff

 

[Sue Gremlin]

It's hard to see from this angle, but they appear to be the skin casts from cicadas. The nymphs emerge from the ground and climb up on the trunk of trees, then they split open and a winged adult emerges. The skin cast/shell is left behind.

 

[Hewey]

It's hard to see from this angle, but they appear to be the skin casts from cicadas. The nymphs emerge from the ground and climb up on the trunk of trees, then they split open and a winged adult emerges. The skin cast/shell is left behind.

good call, I would also go with cicadas also, to random and to concentrated to be a type of moth, the cicada larva will feed on the fine roots around the tree and when it is time they will come out on that tree to hatch.

 

[LARGO]

From years of spying these... agree with Sue.
But I have never........ seen clusters like that.

G.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

I wonder if they have a preference for hardwood trees, and that's why you don't see a whole lot of affected trees? There just aren't that many hardwood trees in the pines.

When I was a kid, the 17 year cicadas hit my hometown. They were EVERYWHERE. Every tree was covered with the casts. The air hummed with them. And of course, being a teenage girl, I was terrified of them and refused to leave the house. How things have changed. I now work in an entomology lab.

 

[ChrisNJ]

Hmmm looks like empty gypsy moth caterpilar cases and egg sacs to me. Can you get a close up of that Jeff ? I dont see legs on any of the cases.

 

[raiden098]

Seems I'm bringing back a dead thread, but I can't help but mention that these seem to be gypsy moth pupae skins. I'm 100% sure. I can clearly make out the yellow egg masses, as well as the characteristic clustering of those little SOBs. The larger ones you see were most definitely females, while the smaller ones were males. I spent hours washing these off of my trees with a power washer. The stink was comparable to rotting flesh. Next time you see something like this, kill kill kill!

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Well, that would make sense since we did have a bad infestation this past summer. I was in a section of the pines that was full of hardwoods, and thought it was raining. It was caterpillar poop I was hearing though. They are devastating.

 

[woodjin]

Seems I'm bringing back a dead thread, but I can't help but mention that these seem to be gypsy moth pupae skins. I'm 100% sure. I can clearly make out the yellow egg masses, as well as the characteristic clustering of those little SOBs. The larger ones you see were most definitely females, while the smaller ones were males. I spent hours washing these off of my trees with a power washer. The stink was comparable to rotting flesh. Next time you see something like this, kill kill kill!

i believe you are correct,the husk, shell of the cicada looks different. these are more cacoons.