tent caterpillar

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of several destructive caterpillars of the family Lasiocampidae, especially of the genus Malacosoma, that live in colonies and construct silken tentlike webs in the branches of trees.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A webworm; the larva of either of two North American bombycid moths of the genus Clisiocampa, C. americana and C. sylvatica.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun entomology A larva belonging to any of a number of species of moths of the genus Malacosoma, known for destructive infestation of trees in which the leaves are consumed and prominent, silken tent-like structures are constructed in the branches.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees