Harnessed tiger moth
Apantesis phalerata
The harnessed tiger moth is a moth with bold black and orange wings. Its bright colours warn hungry animals that it tastes bad. It can even make clicking sounds, like a tiny cicada.
Lives in
North America, from Ontario and Maine down to Florida and Texas
Wingspan
3 to 4.2 cm (1.2 to 1.7 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The caterpillars eat grasses, clover, dandelions, plantain and garden crops.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 7 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 27 seconds
How big is Harnessed tiger 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)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Harnessed tiger moth about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It clicks with special drum-like parts on its body to warn enemies and to talk to mates.
2
Bats still hunt it at night, because they find their food by sound, not by colour.
3
The caterpillar builds its cocoon mostly out of its own hairs.
4
After mating, a grown-up moth lives only about 5 to 10 days.
you asked
Most asked questions about Harnessed tiger moth
?Why is it called a tiger moth?
Because of its bold black and orange colours.
?How big is the harnessed tiger moth?
Its wings are about 3 to 4 centimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Apantesis phalerata
- Named by
- Harris, 1841
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Apantesis phalerata (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 Bruce Marlin. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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