It is sometimes confused with the spongy moth (whose larvae look similar) and the fall webworm (which also builds tents), and may be erroneously referred to as a bagworm, which is the common name applied to unrelated caterpillars in the family Psychidae.

The moths oviposit almost exclusively on trees in the plant family Rosaceae, particularly cherry (Prunus) and apple (Malus).

The adult moth lays her eggs in a single batch in late spring or early summer.

The small caterpillars lie quiescent until the following spring, when they chew their way out of the eggs just as the buds of the host tree begin to develop.

[1] Mating and oviposition typically occur on the day the moths emerge from their cocoons; the females die soon thereafter.

Such displays create a moving target for tachinid flies, wasps, and other small parasitoids that would lay eggs on or in the body of the caterpillar.

It is constructed in the crotch of the host tree and is typically oriented with the broadest wall facing the southeast to take advantage of the morning sun.

Because the early spring weather is often cold, the caterpillars rely on the heat of the sun to elevate their body temperatures to levels that allow them to digest their food.

The tents act as miniature greenhouses, trapping the heat of the morning sun and allowing the caterpillars to warm more quickly than they would if they remained outside.

They may also aggregate on the outside of the shaded side of the tent and hang from the tips of their abdomens to enhance convective heat loss and cooling.

The exact identity of the trail pheromone of the eastern tent caterpillar has not yet been determined, but the chemical 5β-cholestane-3-one has been shown to be fully competitive with it.

The species is found in the eastern Nearctic region of the northern United States and southern Canada in wooded areas.

It has been linked to mare reproductive loss syndrome in horses, but the exact mechanism by which the caterpillar triggers abortion has yet to be determined.

Experimental studies have shown that when pregnant mares are fed eastern tent caterpillars, they abort.

In another study, the necropsy of a mare fed eastern tent caterpillars showed fragments of the caterpillar's setae had embedded in the gut wall, and it was hypothesized that they may facilitate the passage of infective agents from the horse's gut into the bloodstream and then to the placenta, triggering abortion.