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Sticker of Echo moth
Bug card No. 1509 of 4,939

Echo moth

Seirarctia echo
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The echo moth is a moth from the southeastern United States. It is the only species in its group. Its caterpillars are seen so often at one Florida university that students gave them a nickname.

Lives in
Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, in thickets, scrub and open places
Wingspan
4.5 cm (1.8 in)
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of many woody plants, like coontie, palmetto, oak and persimmon.
For real!Photo of Echo moth
Picture by Collin O'Dwyer. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Echo moth wings about 4.5 cm tip to tip (1.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 8 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 25 seconds

How big is Echo moth compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Students at Stetson University in Florida call its caterpillars Hatterpillars, after their school mascot, the Hatter.

2

It is the only species in its whole genus.

3

Its caterpillars are seen most in summer, autumn and late spring.

you asked

Most asked questions about Echo moth

?What does the echo moth eat?

Its caterpillars eat many woody plants, such as coontie, oak and persimmon.

?How big is the echo moth?

Its open wings measure about 4.5 cm across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Seirarctia echo
Named by
Smith, 1797
Group
Moths
Family
Erebidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Seirarctia (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Collin O'Dwyer. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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