CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- The destructive European gypsy moth is munching its way across U.S. forests.
The voracious plant-eating moths stretch from Wisconsin to North Carolina.
West Virginia, Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states are seeing especially bad pockets of infestations this year.
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services spokeswoman Elaine Lidholm says the moths have defoliated 112,340 acres in her state. That's an increase of almost 39,000 acres over last year's total.
In West Virginia, Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass says the moths have devoured about 81,000 acres of forest, up from nearly 78,000 acres last year.
A single caterpillar can eat a square meter of foliage, weakening its victims and making them more susceptible to other pests and diseases. Successive defoliations can kill plants.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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