Ghost moth
The ghost moth got its name from the males, which have shiny white or silver wings. At dusk they hover slowly up and down over the grass, like little ghosts. The females are bigger and yellowish brown.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Ghost moth compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The males dance in the air together in a group to show off to the females.
The ghost dance lasts only 20 to 30 minutes at dusk, when bats are not out yet and birds have stopped hunting.
Its caterpillar can grow up to 5 centimetres long and may live underground for two or three years.
A female can lay hundreds of eggs, sometimes more than a thousand.
Ghost moths cannot hear bats, so hiding in the dusk is their best trick.
Most asked questions about Ghost moth
?Why is it called a ghost moth?
Because the white males hover slowly over the grass at dusk, looking like little ghosts.
?What does a ghost moth eat?
The grown-up moth does not eat. Its caterpillar eats plant roots underground.
?When can you see ghost moths?
They fly from June to August, around dusk.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hepialus humuli
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Hepialidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hepialidae
- Lives on
- Europe
- Also known as
- Ghost swift
Where the facts come from
- Ghost 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 Engeser. 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.
Atlas moth
Luna moth
Hummingbird hawk-moth
Domestic silk moth
Isabella tiger moth
Polyphemus moth
Common glow-worm
Common pill bug
Spotted lanternfly
Yellow garden spider
Spotted orb-weaver
Cockchafer