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Sticker of Ambiguous moth
Bug card No. 0066 of 4,939

Ambiguous moth

Lascoria ambigualis
Eats: PlantsMothsForests and woods6 legs

The ambiguous moth is a small brown moth from the eastern United States. When it rests, it tucks its back wings under its front wings and looks like a little triangle. A dark straight band runs across its wings.

Lives in
The eastern United States, from Wisconsin and Maine south to Florida and Texas
Wingspan
2.1 to 2.5 cm (0.83 to 0.98 in)
Top speed
about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The caterpillar eats chrysanthemums, asters, blackberry and even dead leaves.
For real!Photo of Ambiguous moth
Picture by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Ambiguous moth wings about 2.5 cm tip to tip (0.98 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
wings as wide as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 34 seconds

How big is Ambiguous moth compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The male has a little notch in the edge of his wing with a black spot, and the female does not.

2

Its wings can be brown, a bit purple or grey.

3

Its caterpillars have even been raised on dead leaves.

4

It flies from April to September, with several families of moths in one year in warm places.

you asked

Most asked questions about Ambiguous moth

?What does the ambiguous moth look like?

It is small and brown or grey, and it rests in a triangle shape with a dark band across its wings.

?What does the ambiguous moth caterpillar eat?

Chrysanthemums, asters, blackberry and even dead leaves.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Lascoria ambigualis
Named by
Walker, 1866
Group
Moths
Family
Erebidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Lascoria ambigualis (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 Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, 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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More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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