In the 1980's the exoitc, non-native Gypsy Moth was the scourge of the Middle Atlantic forests of the USA.......This year, it is New England's Oak woodlands(the favorite food of the Gypsy Moth larvae) that are getting hammered by this voracious leaf-eater............"Gypsy moths don't belong in North America"......... "They are native to parts of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa and were first brought to the United States in the 1860s"............ Trouvelot, a French scientist, wanted to breed gypsy moths with silk moths with the hopes of creating a lucrative silk market in the United States"..................... "He chose gypsy moths because, unlike silk moths which are very particular about what they eat, gypsy moths feed on leaves of over 500 types of trees and shrubs"........... "Trouvelot believed that a cross between the two moth species would create a hardy silk-producer that would be easy to raise and inexpensive to feed"........... "Unfortunately for Trouvelot, silk moths and gypsy moths are not even in the same insect family and cannot breed with each other".......... In 1869, while Trouvelot was working with gypsy moths, a small number of the insects escaped near his Bedford, Massachusetts home"............... Trouvelot knew enough about gypsy moths at that point to be concerned about their escape and reported the breakout to local authorities"............... "He even wrote about the escape in scientific journals but no-one seemed concerned about a few tiny caterpillars".............Those few tiny catepillars have re-written the ecology of the eastern woodland forest desspite various predators and dieseases that attack the Gypsy................."Natural enemies play an important role during periods when gypsy moth populations are sparse".............. "Parasitic and predatory insects such as wasps, flies, ground beetles, spiders----Birds like chickadees, bluejays, nuthatches, towhees, blackbirds, and robins----15 species of common woodland mammals such as the white-footed mouse, shrews, chipmunks, squirrels and raccoons prey on the Gypsies"............. "Diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, or viruses contribute to the decline of gypsy moth populations, especially during periods when gypsy moth populations are dense and are stressed by lack of preferred foliage"....................... "Wilt disease caused by the nucleopolyhedrosis virus (NPV) is specific to the gypsy moth and is the most devastating of the natural diseases"............................... "NPV causes a dramatic collapse of outbreak populations by killing both the larvae and pupae". .........."Weather affects the survival and development of gypsy moth life stages regardless of population density"..................... "For example, temperatures of -20°F. (-29°C.) lasting from 48 to 72 hours can kill exposed eggs; alternate periods of freezing and thawing in late winter and early spring may prevent the overwintering eggs from hatching; and cold, rainy weather inhibits dispersal and feeding of the newly hatched larvae and slows their growth"..........Let us hope that wet and cold late Winter/early Springs return to New England next year as this past Winter was one of the warmest(least snowfalls) on record

Gypsy moth

 caterpillars have

 decimated large

 portions of

 New England 

forests this summer

• Molly Sequin
 

• Jul. 19, 2016, 12:31 PM
• 1,606

NASA's  May 25, 2016 (left) and June 26, 2016 (right) photos of New England's defoliation.green is healthy woods, gray is defoliated woodland NASA

The Gypsy Moth larvae

Defoliated Oak

Gypsies are voracious leaf eaters of Oaks

Egg mass overwinters on trunks of trees

Adult Gypsy Moth laying egg mass on leaf