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Sticker of African moon moth
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African moon moth

Argema mimosae
Eats: PlantsMothsForests and woods6 legs

The African moon moth is a giant emerald green moth with long tails on its back wings. Each wing has a yellow and red eyespot. With its green colour and leafy tails, it looks a lot like a leaf.

Lives in
Eastern Africa and parts of southern Africa, in warm bushland
Wingspan
10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in)
Top speed
about 24 km/h (15 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a gentle giant that cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of African trees like corkwood, marula and tamboti.
For real!Photo of African moon moth
Picture by No machine-readable author provided. Kugamazog~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims).. CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

African moon moth wings about 12 cm tip to tip (4.7 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as your handcould fly across a whole football pitch in 16 seconds

How big is African moon moth compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

From its head to the tips of its tails it can measure 12 to 14 centimetres.

2

Its long tails look like a dried leaf stem, which helps it hide.

3

The front edge of its front wings is grey and furry.

4

Its caterpillars are green with thin white bands and rows of long spikes on their backs.

5

Its cocoon is silvery and full of tiny holes.

you asked

Most asked questions about African moon moth

?How big is the African moon moth?

Its wings measure 10 to 12 centimetres across, and with its tails it is up to 14 centimetres long.

?Is the African moon moth dangerous?

No. It is harmless to people.

?What does the African moon moth caterpillar eat?

Leaves of trees like corkwood, marula and tamboti.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Argema mimosae
Named by
Boisduval, 1847
Group
Moths
Family
Saturniidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Saturniidae
Lives on
Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Argema mimosae (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by No machine-readable author provided. Kugamazog~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims).. CC BY-SA 2.5, 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 hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Forests and woods