Hyphantria cunea (Drury, 1773)

Host plants:
The caterpillars live polyphagous on deciduous woods. I met many larvae in the northern Italian Po Valley south of Turin on Salix, Fraxinus, Populus, Sambucus nigra, Acer negundo, fruit trees, Juglans regia and others in late August 2010. If the tree is stripped bare, the caterpillars also accept herbs and allegedly even grasses.

Habitat:
Hyphantria cunea inhabits in Europe particularly the lowlands and occur mostly in humid habitats with trees.

Life cycle:
The pupa hibernates. The moths fly in two or three generations from April to September. The caterpillars are found from early summer to autumn. They live in nests surrounded by white tissue and cause especially skeleton scars. Often whole trees are wrapped up and stripped bare.

Remarks:
Hyphantria cunea originates in North America southward to Mexico. However, it was introduced in the last century in many other regions, and is gaining ground: Japan, South Russia, Hungary, eastern Austria, Slovakia, south west France, Italy, Ticino.

This is probably one of Hyphantria cunea that could spread with increasing global warming north of the Alps. Hyphantria cunea can be regarded as one of the very few pest species (besides about gypsy moths and frost tensioners) in orchards etc.