American snout
The American snout is a butterfly with a long nose. Its long mouthparts stick out in front like a snout. When it hangs upside down under a twig, it looks just like a dead leaf with a stem.

How fast is it?
Fun facts
Some years, so many snouts fly north together that they darken the sky.
These huge journeys happen after a long dry spell followed by heavy summer rain.
The rain makes the hackberry trees grow fresh leaves, so there is lots of food for the caterpillars.
The tips of its front wings are squared off and hooked.
Its caterpillar is dark green with yellow stripes and looks a little humpbacked.
Most asked questions about American snout
?Why is it called a snout butterfly?
Because its long mouthparts stick out in front of its head like a snout.
?What does the American snout caterpillar eat?
Leaves of hackberry trees.
?Where does the American snout live?
In North and South America. Huge groups are sometimes seen flying through Texas.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Libytheana carinenta
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- American snout butterfly, Common snout butterfly
Where the facts come from
- American snout (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Francisco Farriols Sarabia. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.