Double square-spot
The double square-spot is a pale brown moth with two black marks on each front wing. Its name says both marks are square, but only one really is. The other one is more like a triangle.
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Fun facts
It flies at night and is drawn to lights.
It spends the winter as a caterpillar.
In the Alps it lives up to about 2,000 metres high.
It looks almost the same as a close cousin, and only small details of colour tell them apart.
In Britain it flies in June and July.
Most asked questions about Double square-spot
?Is the double square-spot dangerous?
No. It is a moth and cannot bite or sting.
?What does the double square-spot caterpillar eat?
Lots of different plants, such as birch, blackthorn, hawthorn, raspberry, dock and willow.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Xestia triangulum
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Double square-spot (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 Fvlamoen. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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