Exposure to eastern tent caterpillars or their frass was
hypothesized to be a risk factor in Mare Reproductive Loss
Syndrome which resulted in very high incidence of early and late-term abortion of foals in Kentucky during 2001. Forty-eight early-term pregnant mares were divided into 1 of four treatments in two separate experiments. Treatments included control mares or mares exposed to Eastern tent caterpillars (ETC), starved ETC, or ETC frass. Numerous spontaneous early-term abortions were recorded.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Lasiocampidae Malacosoma americanum (eastern tent caterpillar)
Keywords: horses, reproductive loss
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