The Pine Processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) is a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae. It is sometimes placed in the genus Traumatocampa. It is an abundant species of pine woods in central and southern Europe, and an important economic pest. The species is notable for the behaviour of its caterpillar larvae, which overwinter in tent-like nests high in pine trees, and which process through the woods in nose-to-tail columns, protected by their severely irritating hairs, as described by the pioneering entomologist Jean Henri Fabre.
Read more about Pine Processionary: Adult, Larva, Natural Controls, Bibliography
Famous quotes containing the word pine:
“When the chopper would praise a pine, he will commonly tell you that the one he cut was so big that a yoke of oxen stood on its stump; as if that were what the pine had grown for, to become the footstool of oxen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)