A CHEMICAL TRAIL FACTOR FROM THE SILK OF THE EASTERN TENT CATERPILLAR Malacosoma americanum (LEPIDOPTERA: LASIOCAMPIDAE)

The leaf-feeding larvae of the eastern tent caterpillar Malaeosoma arnerieanum (Fabricius) follow silk trails laid down on branches leading from their communal tent to distant foraging sites. The response of colonies reared in the laboratory under seminatural conditions to silk trails washed in methylene chloride and to chemical trails prepared from a solvent extract of their tent or trail silk, showed that one or more soluble components of their trail is essential to the elicitation of the following response. The demonstrated ability of the caterpillars to distinguish between old and newly reinforced silk trails most likely occurs in response to a temporal change in the detectable chemical properties of their trail.