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Horntails, Wood Wasps and SawfliesWhite cottony caterpillar
August 22, 2009
What is this?? My husband and I found several in our garden. We believe they are feeding on young sumac or lilac trees. We have studied caterpillars and moths/butterflies for some time and have never seen this before. Thank you for any assistance.
Donna Riedinger
New Jersey, USA
Butternut WoollyWorm
Hi Donna,
Though the Butternut WoollyWorm, Eriocampa juglandis, resembles a caterpillar and is often mistaken for a caterpillar, it is really the larva of a Sawfly. Sawflies are classified with Ants, Bees and Wasps. According to BugGuide: “Larvae feed on leaves of Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) and Butternut (Juglans cinerea). Also reported on Carya spp. (Hickory).“ The potential host trees you mention are not listed in any sources we used. According to the Auburn University website: “Fully grown larva are densely covered with white, cottony or woolly filamentous flocculence.”
Butternut WoollyWorm
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