Luna moth
The luna moth is a big moth with pale lime-green wings and a white, furry body. Its back wings end in long, curly tails. On each wing it has a round spot that looks like an eye.
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Fun facts
The grown-up moth lives only about one week.
Its long tails may confuse bats, which find their food by listening to echoes.
Its caterpillar makes clicking sounds to warn enemies to stay away.
When it comes out of its cocoon, its wings are small and crumpled, and it takes a few hours for them to grow to full size.
A female lays 200 to 400 eggs on the underside of leaves.
Most asked questions about Luna moth
?What does a luna moth eat?
Nothing. The grown-up moth has no working mouth. Only the caterpillar eats.
?How long does a luna moth live?
As a grown-up moth, only about one week.
?How big is a luna moth?
Its wings are usually 8 to 11.5 centimetres across, and rarely almost 18 centimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Actias luna
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Saturniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Saturniidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- American moon moth
Where the facts come from
- Luna 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 David notMD. CC BY-SA 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.
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