Polyphemus moth
The Polyphemus moth is a huge brown moth. On each back wing it has a big round spot that looks like an eye, yellow in the middle with blue and black around it. Its caterpillar is bright green with silver spots.
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Fun facts
In its first eight weeks, the caterpillar eats about 86,000 times its own weight in leaves.
Its name comes from Polyphemus, a giant with one eye from an old Greek story.
Males have big feathery feelers that can smell a female from kilometres away.
The grown-up moth lives less than a week, because it cannot eat.
The caterpillar wraps its brown silk cocoon in leaves so it is hidden.
Most asked questions about Polyphemus moth
?What does the Polyphemus moth eat?
The grown-up moth eats nothing at all. Only the caterpillar eats, munching tree leaves.
?Why does the Polyphemus moth have eyespots?
The big eye-like spots on its back wings may startle or confuse animals that want to eat it.
?How big is the Polyphemus moth?
Its wings are 10 to 15 centimetres across, about as wide as your hand.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Antheraea polyphemus
- Named by
- Cramer, 1776
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Saturniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Saturniidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Antheraea polyphemus (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 [User:Kadoka1] Template:Stephen Lody Photography. 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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