Earth Almanac: January/February 2006

Silken Sleepers

If you live in the eastern states and share the habitat of white pine, a quest for pine-tube moths is an excellent excuse to get family members, especially kids, out into the winter woods. Now the larvae have pupated, and each is wrapped in a silk-lined sleeping bag comprised of as many as 20 needles that, as a caterpillar, it wove together. A caterpillar constructs a new tube after it has eaten the old one down to about an inch in length, so don't be discouraged if you encounter lots of empty tubes. Eventually, you'll find the three-eighths-inch pupa. Touch it, and it will wiggle slightly. In spring pupae emerge as small moths. Pine-tube moths do no real damage to white pines because the two species evolved together.