Winter moth
The winter moth is a small brownish moth that comes out in late autumn and early winter, when almost no other moths are flying. The males have proper wings and fly well. The females have only tiny wing stubs, so they cannot fly at all and have to climb up the trees on foot.
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Fun facts
After the first frosts, the females crawl out of the ground, walk up a tree and send out a special smell to call the males.
Tiny caterpillars can spin a silk thread and let the wind carry them to another tree, like a little kite.
Both the caterpillars and the moths can cope with freezing nights.
A female lays her tiny eggs in cracks in the bark, sometimes hundreds of them.
People brought it to North America by accident, where its caterpillars now eat a lot of tree leaves.
Most asked questions about Winter moth
?Why is it called the winter moth?
Because the grown-up moths come out in late autumn and early winter, when it is cold.
?Can female winter moths fly?
No. They only have tiny wing stubs, so they walk up the trees instead.
?What do winter moth caterpillars eat?
They eat tree buds and young leaves, most of all oak and apple.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Operophtera brumata
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Winter moth (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 Adrian Tync. 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.
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