Rockport Insects
WOOLY (WILLY) WORM
(sp. Orgyia leucostigma)
It is more precisely called the White-Marked
Tussock Moth and Caterpillar, but here in
Rockport it’s either a Wooly Worm or a Willy
Worm, depending on who you’re talking to.
It hardly seems a point worth arguing - over
Rockport’s least favorite insect.
Although the Wooly Worm has nearly a 150
different plants on its menu, and can have
multiple life cycles in a single year, here in
Rockport we generally associate their arrival
in early spring with the blooming of our Live
Oak trees.
When the White-Marked Tussock Moth Larva
hatches from its nest, which is often from the
very same cocoon that the mother moth had
emerged from, the small larvae spin a line of
silk and parachute into the winds of fate, and
of course, gravity.
The Wooly Worm feeds at night. The female
moth is practically flightless, and another bit
trivia you may not know is that the female’s
cocoon is twice as long as the male’s.
29
White-Marked Tussock
Moth & Cocoon
LORE: IT’S IN THE FUZZ!
Its’ fuzz can cause sever rash and
whelps. It acts twofold: mechanical
- much like fiberglass, penetrating the
skin and fragmenting into shards. And
the second is a bio-chemical toxin it
excretes. Some people are more sensitive, but I’ve never known anyone who
was totally immune to these hairs or
even the fuzz on the cocoons.