Brimstone moth
The brimstone moth is a small moth with bright lemon yellow wings. Along the front edge of each front wing it has little reddish brown patches. It is so yellow that you can hardly mistake it for anything else.
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Fun facts
It flies mostly at night and loves bright lights.
Its caterpillar is brown or green and has a little horn on its back.
You can see the moths from April all the way to October.
It spends the winter as a caterpillar or as a pupa.
A scientist long ago used its caterpillar to show how animals hide by having a darker back and a lighter belly.
Most asked questions about Brimstone moth
?Is the brimstone moth the same as the brimstone butterfly?
No. They are both yellow and share a name, but they are completely different insects.
?How big is the brimstone moth?
Its wings are 33 to 46 millimetres across.
?What do brimstone moth caterpillars eat?
Leaves of trees and bushes like apple, birch, hawthorn and willow.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Opisthograptis luteolata
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Brimstone moth (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 AJC1 from UK. CC BY-SA 2.0, 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.
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