Atlas moth
The Atlas moth is one of the biggest moths in the world. Its reddish brown wings have see-through little windows and are wider than a dinner plate. The tips of its front wings look like the heads of snakes.
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Fun facts
When an enemy comes near, it moves its wings so the tips look even more like snake heads.
Its caterpillar is green with white, waxy spines and can grow 11.5 centimetres long.
Because it cannot eat, the grown-up moth lives only one or two weeks and flies as little as possible.
A boy moth can smell a girl moth from several kilometres away with his feathery antennae.
In Taiwan its empty cocoons have been used as little coin purses.
Most asked questions about Atlas moth
?How big is an Atlas moth?
Its wings are usually 25 to 30 centimetres across, one of the biggest of all moths.
?Why does the Atlas moth not eat?
It has no proper mouth. It lives on the fat it stored up as a caterpillar.
?Is the Atlas moth dangerous?
No. It is completely harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Attacus atlas
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Saturniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Saturniidae
- Lives on
- Asia
- Also known as
- Snake's head moth
Where the facts come from
- Attacus atlas (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 Quartl. 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 hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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