Life Cycle of the Gypsy Moth
The egg mass is laid down by the adult female gypsy moth in late summer, usually on verticle stable surfaces like tree trunks and buidling walls. The egg mass is first a medium dark "wet sand" brown color but bleaches to a more tan to off white as the season progresses. The mass usually also erodes and by spring it looks weathered. The egg mass contains up to about 1,000 eggs, each producing a larvae. The eggs are very hardy, withstanding very cold temperatures and prolonged drying. Scraped onto the ground, nearly all will still hatch.
The gypsy moth eggs are subject to predation by a very small member of the wasp family called
Ooencyrtus kuvanae.
This parasitoid burrows into the egg mass and lays its egg in the gypsy moth egg. Over several weeks, the Ooencyrtus larvae consumes the gypsy moth egg and emerges as an adult. Ooencyrtus can kill up to fifty percent of the eggs in a gypsy moth egg mass although usually the percentage is less.
