Scarlet-bodied wasp moth
The scarlet-bodied wasp moth is a moth that looks like a wasp, with a bright red body. It flies in the daytime along warm coasts. Its colours warn birds that it might sting, even though it cannot.
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Fun facts
Before mating, the male showers the female with bitter chemicals he collected from a plant.
Grown-up moths can be seen flying from March all the way to December.
Its wings measure only about 3 to 3.5 centimetres across.
Most asked questions about Scarlet-bodied wasp moth
?Is the scarlet-bodied wasp moth a wasp?
No, it is a moth. It only looks like a wasp to scare away birds.
?Can the scarlet-bodied wasp moth sting?
No. It has no sting and is harmless.
?Where does it live?
In warm coastal areas of the south-east USA, and it has also been found in Brazil.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Cosmosoma myrodora
- Named by
- Dyar, 1907
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Cosmosoma myrodora (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 (c) Amber M. King, some rights reserved (CC BY). 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.
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