Buff-tip
The buff-tip is a big grey moth with a pale yellow patch at the tip of each front wing. When it rests with its wings folded, it looks just like a broken little twig. Birds walk right past it.
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Fun facts
Its fluffy head is yellowish too, so the folded moth looks like a twig with a broken, pale end.
The young caterpillars live together in a group, and later each one goes off on its own.
The big caterpillar is black with bright yellow lines, very easy to spot.
It spends the winter as a pupa, and the moth flies at night in early summer.
Most asked questions about Buff-tip
?Why does the buff-tip look like a twig?
Its grey wings and the pale patch at the tip make it look like a broken twig, so birds do not notice it.
?What does the buff-tip caterpillar eat?
Leaves of many trees, such as willow, oak, birch, hazel and lime.
?How big is the buff-tip moth?
Its wings are about 5.5 to 7 centimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Phalera bucephala
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Notodontidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Notodontidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Buff-tip (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 Olei. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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