| 1. | any of the larvae of several moths of the genus Malacosoma, which feed on the leaves of orchard and shade trees and live colonially in a tentlike silken web. |
| 2. | the North American larva of M. disstria (forest tent caterpillar), which spins a dense net. |
| tent caterpillar n. Any of several destructive caterpillars of the family Lasiocampidae, especially of the genus Malacosoma, whose colonies construct silken tentlike webs in the branches of trees. |