HARTFORD — DEEP needs your help finding dead caterpillars.
If you live in a neighborhood that’s been infested with gypsy moths, state environmental leaders want you to let them know if you are, or are not, seeing dead caterpillars so they can predict the potential 2018 outbreak of gypsy moths.
Because of the wet spring there’s a soil-borne fungus and a virus killing the insects not just here in Connecticut, but throughout the region. Dead caterpillars mean there will be fewer moths to mate later and eventually, fewer eggs.
The spores get on the insect’s body and basically eat it from the outside in. It’s called nuclear polyhedral virus and you generally see that virus when the population becomes really, really heavy.
Meanwhile, DEEP said they only need to know your town and what you’re seeing, nothing more.
