Lasiocampidae

Lasiocampidae is a family of moths known as eggars, tent caterpillars, snout moths or lappet moths, and the sole family in the superfamily Lasiocampoidea, comprising more than 2,000 species worldwide, many of them still poorly studied. Caterpillars are typically large and hairy, especially along the sides, with decorative flaps of skin on the prolegs and glands on the abdomen, and several species, the tent caterpillars, build communal silk nests in which the larvae live together. Adult moths are large bodied with broad wings, usually brown or grey with hairy legs and bodies, and some retain functional mouthparts while others do not feed as adults; females lay large, flattened egg masses that in tent caterpillars are covered with a hardening material. The family scientific name comes from Greek roots meaning woolly caterpillar.