Small magpie
The small magpie is a pretty moth with white wings covered in black spots and lines, a bit like a magpie bird. Its head and body are bright yellow with black dots. It often hides in nettle patches and flutters out when you walk past.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Small magpie compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The caterpillar rolls up a leaf and hides inside it while it eats.
It spends the winter in a see-through cocoon under loose bark or inside a hollow plant stem.
It flies from dusk onwards and likes to come to lights.
Its scientific name hortulata comes from the Latin word for garden, where it often lives.
In Canada and the United States it is a newcomer that came from overseas.
Most asked questions about Small magpie
?What does the small magpie moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat stinging nettles, and sometimes mint.
?Why is it called the small magpie?
Its black and white wings look a bit like the feathers of a magpie bird.
?Is the small magpie moth dangerous?
No. It is a harmless little moth.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Anania hortulata
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Crambidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Crambidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Anania hortulata (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 Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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.
Atlas moth
Luna moth
Hummingbird hawk-moth
Domestic silk moth
Isabella tiger moth
Polyphemus moth
Portuguese millipede
American bird grasshopper
Rusty patched bumblebee
Swift woodlouse
Organ pipe mud dauber
Small copper.jpg){kind=link}