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Sticker of Garden tortrix
Bug card No. 1804 of 4,939

Garden tortrix

Clepsis peritana
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The garden tortrix is a very small moth, with wings only about a centimetre across. Its caterpillars live in gardens and nibble on flowers, fruit plants and herbs. You may meet it in gardens across North America.

Lives in
North America from southern Canada through the United States, and also Cuba and Spain, in gardens
Wingspan
1 to 1.5 cm (0.39 to 0.59 in)
Top speed
about 8.6 km/h (5.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Moths cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat plants such as strawberries, chrysanthemums, artichokes and citrus trees.
For real!Photo of Garden tortrix
Picture by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Garden tortrix wings about 1.5 cm tip to tip (0.59 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)
could fly across a whole football pitch in 44 seconds

How big is Garden tortrix compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its caterpillars are light green, but their colour can change depending on which plant they eat.

2

A full-grown caterpillar is about 1.3 centimetres long, about as long as the moth is wide.

3

There are several generations each year, so you can see the moths from March to September.

you asked

Most asked questions about Garden tortrix

?What does the garden tortrix eat?

Its caterpillars eat strawberries, chrysanthemums, artichokes, citrus and other plants.

?How big is the garden tortrix?

Very small. Its wings are only 1 to 1.5 centimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Clepsis peritana
Group
Moths
Family
Tortricidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Tortricidae
Lives on
North America, Europe
Also known as
Strawberry garden tortrix

Where the facts come from

  1. Clepsis peritana (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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