---
title: "Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth"
description: "Malacosoma disstria — Insekten & Spinnen. The forest tent caterpillar moth (Malacosoma disstria) is a moth found throughout North America, especially in the eastern regions."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/de/animal/forest-tent-caterpillar-moth
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth

> Malacosoma disstria — Insekten & Spinnen. The forest tent caterpillar moth (Malacosoma disstria) is a moth found throughout North America, especially in the eastern regions.

- Scientific name: *Malacosoma disstria*
- Category: `insects` (Insekten & Spinnen)
- Habitats: `forest` (Wald)
- iNaturalist observations: 41793
- Wikidata: [Q2121239](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2121239)
- iNaturalist taxon: [81663](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/81663)

## Names

- en: Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth
- fr: Livrée des forêts

## Countries with the most observations

US (26519), CA (11381)

## Summary

The forest tent caterpillar moth (Malacosoma disstria) is a moth found throughout North America, especially in the eastern regions. Unlike related tent caterpillar species, the larvae of forest tent caterpillars do not make tents, but rather, weave a silky sheet where they lie together during molting. They also lay down strands of silk as they move over branches and travel as groups along these pheromone-containing silk trails. The caterpillars are social, traveling together to feed and massing as a group at rest. Group behavior diminishes as the caterpillars increase in size, so that by the fifth instar (molt) the…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_tent_caterpillar_moth

## Photo

![Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/forest-tent-caterpillar-moth/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jack Gelinas · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/229004553

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/forest-tent-caterpillar-moth?lang=de` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).