Defoliation on the bayou

Spring often brings defoliating insects to the forests of Louisiana. In this image from early May 2010, defoliations from forest tent caterpillars and baldcypress leafrollers create an erupting "measles-like" pattern. Note the subtle differences in severity outward from the centers of several of the blotches. The insets show the baldcypress leafroller (left: photo by Gerald Lenhard, LSU: bugwood.com 0014219) and the forest tent caterpillar (right; photo by Stephen Katovich, USFS; bugwood.com 1398248).