Editing Bagworm moth (section)

==Ecology==
In the larval stage, bagworms extend their head and [[Thorax (insect anatomy)|thorax]] from their mobile case to devour the leaves of host plants, often leading to the death of their [[host (biology)|host]]s. [[Tree]]s infested with bagworms exhibit increasingly damaged foliage as the infestation increases until the leaves are stripped bare.{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}} Some bagworms are specialized in their host plants ([[monophagous]]), while others can feed on a variety of plant species (polyphagous). A few species also consume small [[arthropod]]s (such as the [[camphor scale]] ''[[Pseudaonidia duplex]]'', a [[scale insect]]).{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}} One bagworm species was found to eat an orb-web of ''Plebs sachalinensis'' (Araneae, Araneidae) entirely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Koshidaka |first1=Naoki |last2=Takasuka |first2=Keizo |title=Discovery of a bagworm devouring an orb web |journal=Arachnology |date=5 August 2019 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=147 |doi=10.13156/arac.2018.18.2.147 |s2cid=201572602 }}</ref>

Since bagworm cases are composed of silk and the materials from their habitat, they are naturally camouflaged from predators. [[Predator]]s include [[bird]]s and other [[insect]]s. Birds often eat the egg-laden bodies of female bagworms after they have died. Since the eggs are very hard-shelled, they can pass through the bird's [[digestive system]] unharmed, promoting the spread of the species over wide areas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barbosa |first1=Pedro |last2=Krischik |first2=Vera |last3=Lance |first3=David |title=Life-history Traits of Forest-inhabiting Flightless Lepidoptera |journal=The American Midland Naturalist |date=October 1989 |volume=122 |issue=2 |pages=262–274 |doi=10.2307/2425912 |jstor=2425912 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2425912 |access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref>

A bagworm begins to build its case as soon as it hatches. Once the case is built, only adult males ever leave the case, never to return, when they take flight to find a mate. Bagworms add material to the front of the case as they grow, excreting waste materials through the opening in the back of the case.  When satiated with leaves, a bagworm [[caterpillar]] secures its case and pupates.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}} The adult female, which is wingless, either emerges from the case long enough for breeding or remains in the case while the male extends his [[abdomen]] into the female's case to breed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Resh |first1=Vincent H. |last2=Cardé |first2=Ring T. |title=Encyclopedia of Insects |date=2009 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-08-092090-0 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123741448/encyclopedia-of-insects |access-date=2020-06-06 |archive-date=2020-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614124512/https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780123741448/encyclopedia-of-insects |url-status=live }}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref> Females lay their eggs in their case and die. The female [[evergreen bagworm]] (''Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis'') dies without laying eggs, and the larval bagworm offspring emerge from the parent's body. Some bagworm species are [[parthenogenetic]], meaning their eggs develop without male fertilization. Each bagworm generation lives just long enough as adults to mate and reproduce in their annual cycle.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Donald Ray |last2=Quintero A. |first2=Diomedes |last3=Cambra T. |first3=Roberto A. |title=Biology of a New Panamanian Bagworm Moth (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) with Predatory Larvae, and Eggs Individually Wrapped in Setal Cases. |journal=Annals of the Entomological Society of America |date=July 2008 |volume=101 |issue=4 |pages=689–702 |doi=10.1093/aesa/101.4.689 |url=http://rave.ohiolink.edu/ejournals/article/312874782 |access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref>