Invasive, toxic caterpillars that can kill are about to invade parts of London

Enlarge / Thaumetopoea processionea in procession around an oak tree. (credit: Kleuske)

An invasive, toxic species of caterpillar has officials in the UK on edge. Authorities are now warning residents to avoid the caterpillars and their prickly, poisonous hairs that can irritate and kill.

“It’s time to be vigilant! Oak Processionary Moth spotted in parks across Bexley,” the Royal Forestry Society tweeted last week. (Bexley is a south-east London borough.)

So far, officials have only seen nests and emerging larvae of the toxic oak processionary moth, or OPM (Thaumetopoea processionea). The larvae, aka caterpillars, aren’t expected to fully hatch and begin moving around and eating oak foliage until around mid-May, at which point they pose a danger to humans as well as the trees.