Bug card No. 0212 of 1,500
Buff ermine
Spilarctia luteum
The buff ermine is a soft, pale yellow moth with a row of dark spots across its wings. Some have hardly any spots, and some are almost all black. Its caterpillar is pale brown and very hairy.
Lives in
Europe and Asia, from Britain to China, Korea and Japan
Wingspan
3.4 to 4.2 cm (1.3 to 1.7 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. The moth cannot bite or sting. Do not handle the hairy caterpillar, just look at it.
What does it eat?
Its hairy caterpillars eat the leaves of many different trees, bushes and smaller plants.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 7 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 27 seconds
How big is Buff ermine compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Buff ermine about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Males are usually more yellow than females.
2
It spends the winter as a pupa, wrapped up until spring.
3
It is attracted to lights at night.
4
In Britain it flies from May to July.
you asked
Most asked questions about Buff ermine
?What does a buff ermine caterpillar eat?
Lots of different plants, from tree leaves to garden plants.
?How big is the buff ermine moth?
Its wings are about 3.4 to 4.2 centimetres from tip to tip.
?Are buff ermine caterpillars hairy?
Yes, very hairy and pale brown.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Spilarctia luteum
- Named by
- Hufnagel, 1766
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Buff ermine (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 unknown author. 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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