Enemies
In the story of Southcrop Forest, Fur is hunted by ghoulish enemies throughout his long crawl. I've gathered some pictures of the most gruesome to show you.
Spined Soldier Bug
This spined ‘stink’ bug, Podisus maculiventris (Order: Hemiptera, Family: Pentatomidae)is a generalist predator that over winters as an adult and hunts tent caterpillars early in the season. It injects prey with paralyzing saliva and feeds by sucking out liquefied body contents with its pointed beak.
Photograph by Gerald J. Lenhard, , www.forestryimages.org Photograph by Lorne Rothman
Crawler Plague
In Southcrop Forest, little Fur fears crawler plague more than anything. In fact this 'plague' is called Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus (NPV). It is a naturally occurring pathogen that infects tent caterpillars. Caterpillars ingest the microscopic virus particles while feeding. The virus replicates within an infected caterpillar's body, turning its insides into a virus ‘soup’. The caterpillar breaks open and the soup spills out to contaminate leaves and bark. The virus takes about nine days to kill and can cause the collapse of entire forest tent caterpillar populations.
Photograph by Steven Katovich, USDA Forest Service,www.forestryimages.org
The above two pictures are of western tent caterpillars (close cousins of the forest species) that have died of the virus. Their skins are broken and the virus has begun to spill out.
Photographs by Lorne Rothman
Flies
Tent caterpillars are also attacked by a variety of flies that lay their young in or on the host. The fly larvae (maggots) feed and develop inside the caterpillar slowly killing it.