Early thorn
The early thorn is a moth with pretty scalloped wing edges, as if someone cut them with wavy scissors. It has a dark smudge at the tip of each front wing. It comes in so many colours that no two look quite the same.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Early thorn compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It has two families a year. The spring moths are bigger, and the summer ones are much smaller.
Three thin lines run across each front wing.
In Arctic Norway there is a dwarf kind that is extra small.
The caterpillar is orange-brown or reddish brown with small humps on its back.
Most asked questions about Early thorn
?When can you see the early thorn?
It flies from April to August, in a spring group and a summer group.
?What does the early thorn eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of trees like birch and alder.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Selenia dentaria
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Selenia dentaria (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 Ben Sale from UK. 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Atlas moth
Luna moth
Hummingbird hawk-moth
Domestic silk moth
Isabella tiger moth
Polyphemus moth
Bordered click beetle
Tailed forest spider
White-striped longhorn beetle
Pinecone bug
Ilex hairstreak
Walckenaer's studded triangular spider_Early_Thorn_(Selenia_dentaria)_(33787481010).jpg){kind=link}