Cucumber moth
The cucumber moth has see-through whitish wings with wide dark brown edges, like a window with a frame. The female has a fluffy tuft at the tip of her tail that she can open like a little flower. Its caterpillars love cucumbers, pumpkins and gourds.
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Fun facts
Its wings are about 3 centimetres from tip to tip.
The female spreads her tail tuft to send out a special smell that attracts males.
It probably travelled to faraway islands like Fiji and Mauritius with plants carried on ships.
One scientist described it as a new species three times, because he thought moths from faraway places were different kinds.
It eats cucumbers mostly because farmers grow so many of them. It actually likes other gourds even more.
Most asked questions about Cucumber moth
?Is the cucumber moth harmful?
Not to people. But its caterpillars can damage cucumber and pumpkin plants.
?What does the cucumber moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat leaves of cucumbers, pumpkins, gourds and luffas.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Diaphania indica
- Named by
- Saunders, 1851
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Crambidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Crambidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania, Africa
- Also known as
- Cotton caterpillar
Where the facts come from
- Diaphania indica (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 Saleem Hameed <saleemham at rediffmail.com>. CC BY 2.5, 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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