Bruce spanworm moth
The Bruce spanworm moth is a plain little moth that flies late in autumn, when most other insects are gone. Only the males can fly. The females have tiny wings and stay on the trees.
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Fun facts
The grown-up moths fly from October to December, in the cold at the end of the year.
It spends the winter as an egg. The caterpillars hatch in early spring, just when the trees get new leaves.
When the caterpillars are big, they drop to the ground and build a little cocoon out of soil.
It looks almost exactly like its cousin, the winter moth. Scientists sometimes need to check its DNA to tell them apart.
Most asked questions about Bruce spanworm moth
?When does the Bruce spanworm moth fly?
Late in the year, from October to December. Only the males fly.
?What do Bruce spanworm caterpillars eat?
Buds and young leaves of trees like sugar maple, American beech and aspen.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Operophtera bruceata
- Named by
- Hulst, 1886
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Bruce spanworm, Hunter's moth, Native winter moth
Where the facts come from
- Operophtera bruceata (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 Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - Forestry Archive. CC BY 3.0 us, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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