They seem to be everywhere — falling from trees, crawling on people’s clothes and squirming over the pavement — and they’ll be around for another few weeks.
The nonpoisonous, green and blue caterpillars that live in hundreds of campus trees are in a peak season, which happens about every five years. Peak season is noticeable on the University’s campus because of the abundance of the food and water here that caterpillars need to survive.
Owen Kemp, manager of Couhig Termite and Pest Control, said there is little anyone can do about the mass amounts of caterpillars because they live so high in the trees, where they feed on the trees’ foliage. When they are on the ground or falling from trees, Kemp said they are at the end of their life cycle and will die soon.
Dale Pollet, professor of entomology, said the caterpillars hatch every spring from eggs in the trees. They weave cocoons around the middle of May and re-emerge in the summer as moths at the end of May and early June.
Pollet said moths mate and lay eggs in trees, and the new cycle begins when the caterpillars hatch, beginning a new generation of caterpillars. The entire generation of insects dies out every year, and a new one begins.
Pollet said the heavy population of caterpillars on campus is composed mainly of Forest Tent caterpillars. Full-grown Forest Tent caterpillars have light-blue heads speckled with black and are sparsely covered with fine, white hairs.
Pollet said other caterpillars on campus are Eastern Tent caterpillars.
Though caterpillars seem to be everywhere, some students say they are not bothered by them.
Isik Unlu, an entomology doctorate student, said the caterpillars do not bother her, and they are not dangerous. The only thing that can be inconvenient about the caterpillars is getting them off clothing, she said.
“If you smash them, they will make a big stain on your clothes,” Unlu said.
Julia Hollar, an environmental geology freshman, said she enjoys the caterpillars on campus.
“I think they are really pretty,” Hollar said as she held an irredescent-blue caterpillar with black and white markings. “Whenever I walk, I try to look on the ground so I don’t step on them.”
Hollar said many people are “rude” to the caterpillars and that the University should share the trees with them.
But other students do not like sharing the campus with the caterpillars.
Gordon Davis, an English junior, said there are too many caterpillars on campus, and trying to avoid stepping on them becomes hard because they are everywhere.
“It’s a nuisance,” Davis said.
Lauren Savoy, a pre-dental junior, said she does not like the caterpillars because they are “gross.”
“I pretty much hate them,” Savoy said. “It’s way grosser when you step on them.”