Black-bordered lemon moth
Marimatha nigrofimbria
The black-bordered lemon moth is a small moth from North America. Its name tells you its colours: lemon yellow with a black border. In warm southern places it flies for most of the year.
Lives in
North America east of the Rocky Mountains, and Arizona and California
Wingspan
1.8 to 2.2 cm (0.71 to 0.87 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat crabgrass and a kind of morning glory.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 4 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 38 seconds
How big is Black-bordered lemon moth compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Black-bordered lemon moth about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
In the north it flies from May to September, and in the south from March to November.
2
In New York State it is very rare, because that is the northern edge of where it lives.
3
Its wings are only about 2 centimetres across.
you asked
Most asked questions about Black-bordered lemon moth
?Where does the black-bordered lemon moth live?
In North America east of the Rocky Mountains, and in Arizona and California.
?What does the black-bordered lemon moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat crabgrass and morning glory.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Marimatha nigrofimbria
- Named by
- Guenée, 1852
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Marimatha nigrofimbria (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 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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