The Catalpa Worm Massacre

How many horrible things can befall a caterpillar? Here's one more.

There is always a more gruesome way for a caterpillar to die. It isn’t enough to be gobbled up by a hungry songbird feeding nestlings or beefing up for migration. Some are infected with nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) that, in the caterpillars’ last moments, compels them to climb high in a tree and then, once they die, to melt into a black goo that spr…