Pine Processionary

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:

    There is a higher law affecting our relation to pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a pine than a dead human carcass is a man.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)