Imperial moth
The imperial moth is a huge, golden yellow moth with purple, brown and red patches on its wings. Some are as wide as a grown-up's hand. Its big caterpillar can be green or dark brown and is covered in long hairs.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Imperial moth compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The baby caterpillars eat their own eggshell as their very first meal.
A full-grown caterpillar can be 7.5 to 10 centimetres long.
When it changes its skin, the caterpillar sometimes eats the old skin for extra food.
It is the widest-ranging and the most northern moth of its group.
It has become rare in parts of the northeastern United States, partly because of bright street lamps and farm sprays.
Most asked questions about Imperial moth
?How big is the imperial moth?
Its wings are about 8 to 17.5 centimetres across, which makes it one of the big moths.
?What does the imperial moth caterpillar eat?
Leaves of trees like pine, maple, oak, sweetgum and sassafras.
?Is the imperial moth dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eacles imperialis
- Named by
- Drury, 1773
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Saturniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Saturniidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Eacles imperialis (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 NCBioTeacher. CC0, 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.
Atlas moth
Luna moth
Hummingbird hawk-moth
Domestic silk moth
Isabella tiger moth
Polyphemus moth
Golden stag beetle
Knopper gall wasp
Cottonwood borer
Mocker swallowtail
Chorus cicada
Sabre wasp