ID black caterpillar on maple tree - Ask Extension
Can you identify what type of caterpillar this is? We also found egg on back of leaf. Tree is in a wetland easement area with other trees near it. ...
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ID black caterpillar on maple tree #879749
Asked August 01, 2024, 1:48 PM EDT
Can you identify what type of caterpillar this is? We also found egg on back of leaf. Tree is in a wetland easement area with other trees near it.
Since the tree looks pretty eaten up now, can we just wait until next year for the tree to revive? Otherwise what should be done?
Thanks.
Michele
Howard County Maryland
Expert Response
The caterpillars are those of the Orange-striped Oakworm Moth, a native and common species that, as the name implies, eat oak as their host plant. Although they can defoliate individual branches, they don't cause serious damage to the tree and it will recover just fine on its own. (It's normal if the denuded branches don't produce much in the way of new leaves, if any, this late into the growing season. They will still develop leaf buds for next year's growth that will lie dormant on the branches until spring.) No intervention is necessary, and birds and other animals may snack on some of the caterpillars in the meantime.
The egg-like growth on the oak leaf is not actually an egg but a type of gall. Plant galls are somewhat akin to a tumor, though benign in this case. Oaks can develop a wide range of gall types, and those on foliage will disappear as the leaves fall this autumn. No intervention is needed for this either.
Miri
The egg-like growth on the oak leaf is not actually an egg but a type of gall. Plant galls are somewhat akin to a tumor, though benign in this case. Oaks can develop a wide range of gall types, and those on foliage will disappear as the leaves fall this autumn. No intervention is needed for this either.
Miri