Pine processionary
The pine processionary is a moth whose caterpillars are famous for marching in long, nose-to-tail lines through pine woods. Their hairs cause painful rashes and eye irritation, and they can strip the needles from whole trees. It lives around the Mediterranean and is spreading north.1

Como recoñecelo
- Caterpillars are orange-brown and hairy, with blue bands.1
- Large silken nests in pine trees, often with several in one tree and signs of stripped needles.1
- Caterpillars move in single-file processions, usually at night and when leaving the tree to pupate.1
- Adults have predominantly light brown forewings with brown markings and white hindwings.1
- Adult males have a crescent marking on the wings and are larger than the oak processionary.1
Adoita confundirse con: The oak processionary (Thaumetopoea processionea) is smaller as an adult, has an indistinct wing marking rather than a crescent, and lives in broad-leaved rather than coniferous forests. The pale eggar moth has no crescent marking on its wings.1
Poder da pezoña
Pelos ou cerdas pequeniñas rompen dentro da pel e pican.
Que fai a súa pezoña?
The species is not venomous. Its caterpillars have hairs containing an irritant chemical called thaumetopoein, which causes skin rashes (urticaria) and eye irritation on contact. Some people may have an allergic reaction. The hairs of fifth-stage larvae can also break off and spread across nearby exposed skin.1
Que perigoso é para as persoas?
Perigo para as persoas: DolorosoPode doer moito, pero case nunca é grave.Simple contact with the caterpillar hairs can cause severe rashes and eye irritation in humans and other mammals. Some individuals may have an allergic reaction.1
Que fai cando ten medo?
When stressed or threatened, fifth-stage caterpillars eject harpoon-shaped hairs that irritate any exposed skin nearby.1
Se lle tocas os pelos
- Para os pelos urticantes das eirugas: quítaos con cinta adhesiva e despois lava a pel. Non esfregues.
- Para as mordeduras: lava e arrefría. Busca axuda médica se a persoa se sente mal ou sangra con facilidade.
Chama sempre primeiro ao teu número de emerxencias (112, 000, 911). Isto son consellos xerais de primeiros auxilios, non consello médico. Primeiros auxilios básicos
Mantente a salvo
- Nunca toques, collas nin molestes un animal salvaxe, aínda que sexa pequeno e aínda que pareza durmido ou morto.
- Déixalle espazo. Se atopas un, mantén a calma, recúa amodo e déixao ir polo seu camiño.
- Se lle tocas os pelos: mantén a calma, non te movas, chama ao teu número de emerxencias (112, 000, 911) ou vai rápido a un hospital. Lembra como era, unha foto axuda.
Non vai a por ti. Usa a súa pezoña para cazar comida ou para defenderse, e prefire con moito agocharse. Máis sobre como estar a salvo
En que lugar do mundo?
Que tamaño ten?
Canto mide?
mide máis ou menos coma un clip
máis lento ca un caracol de xardínQue tamaño ten Pine processionary comparado CONTIGO?
Só son contas no teu navegador. Non se garda nin se envía nada a ningures.
Que rápido é?
Datos
Caterpillars in a procession hold together through touch from the caterpillar in front, which takes priority over the trail pheromone or silk.1
The caterpillars are one of the few temperate-zone insects whose larvae develop through the winter, living in silk nests high in pine trees.1
Adults live for only a single day, during which they mate and lay eggs.1
The Greek physician Dioscorides described the itching caused by this caterpillar in the 1st century AD, and Pliny the Elder recorded a treatment for it.1
Outbreaks are somewhat cyclical, with a period of 7 to 9 years.1
Desmontamitos
Mito: Fabre's caterpillars marched in a circle around a flower pot only because they were trapped on its rim.
Verdade: Young caterpillars' circular trails continue for as long as 12 hours even when they are free on a flat surface.1
Para expertos en pezoñas
- Nome científico
- Thaumetopoea pityocampa
- Grupo
- Eirugas e bichos
- Familia
- Notodontidae2
- Orde
- Lepidoptera
- Continentes
- Europa, África, Asia
- Crías
- Each female lays an enormous number of eggs near the tops of pine trees, in cylindrical egg masses 4 to 5 cm long covered with scales that mimic pine shoots.1
- Perigo para as persoas
- 2 / 5: Doloroso3
De onde veñen os datos
- Pine processionary (Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0))
- Thaumetopoea pityocampa (iNaturalist): nomes e clasificación.
- Venom Wiki: o nivel de perigo, o tamaño típico e a velocidade estimada son nosos. Mira como os calculamos: Como valoramos o perigo.
Cada dato desta páxina ten un número que leva á súa fonte. Se nos equivocamos nalgo, sentímolo, somos fans dos animais, non unha revista científica. Dínolo en [email protected] e arranxarémolo.
Pelos urticantes