The orange striped oakworm is a caterpillar that defoliates oak trees. The full grown caterpillars are 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. They are black in color with several narrow, yellow-orange longitudinal lines. Behind the head are a pair of stiff, blunt spines, about the thickness of the body. The remaining segments of the body have pairs of smaller spines.

The orange striped oakworm caterpillar generally appears in August or September. They defoliate sections of various oak species and sometimes completely defoliate smaller trees.

Although the leaf feeding habit of the insects larvae is not harmful to the tree, The insect can be troublesome when present in oaks over patios, driveways, etc. The large amount of excrement that the caterpillars drop can stain decks and patios.

The insect passes the winter in the pupa stage in the ground below oak trees. The moths emerge from June-August and mate with the females depositing their eggs on the underside of the host plants. The good news is that there is only one generation per year and control measures are not necessary. If you do have them making a mess on your patio, just rinse it off daily and they will soon be gone.