Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have this large population of caterpillars killing the evergreen shrubs in my yard (I live in northern Virginia, USA). These things make cocoons (1 per cocoon) that have a lot of evergreen needles stuck together and hang from a small branch. The caterpillars are just starting to break out of the cocoons. I've seen this things in several places in the eastern US (mostly in Tennessee and Virginia) and they tend to occupy evergreen trees in large numbers. Does anyone have a clue what these might be?

I apologize for not including a picture. The cocoon seemed odd enough to help narrow things down. I looked online for the usual - gypsy moth, wooly adelgid, spruce budworm, but none of the pictures of the cocoons matched.

Thanks.

your description was fine as these are unique in their cocoon creations. They can do serious damage - here's a link that might help - good luck!

lele
Evergreen Bagworm

Thank you.

The pictures look just like what's on our shrubs. Got to figure out how to get rid of them w/o annoying the wasps out there.