The browntail moth, also known as Euproctis chrysorrhoea, arrived in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1897. We suspect that it was brought over accidentally in a shipment of roses from Europe. Lack of natural control agents allowed it to spread to all the New England states and through much of eastern Canada. In 1908 one death was attributed to browntail moths. Populations slowed down in the 1960s and 1970s, when the moths were found only on a few Casco Bay islands and on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Browntail moths are now on the rise again.
Scientists do not agree why. The Maine State Forest Service suspects the population spurt began on Little Diamond Island in Casco Bay and spread to other islands. Efforts are now being made to find a way to kill the browntail moth without hurting the environment. Habitat of the Browntail Moth Browntail moths usually feed on leaves of hardwood trees and shrubs such as apple, oak, cherry, hawthorn, shadblow, rugosa rose and bayberry. Browntail moths do not eat the whole leaf.