Heliotrope moth
The heliotrope moth is a pretty white moth with scarlet bands and rows of little black spots on its front wings. It is a great traveller. It flies so far that it even reaches tiny islands in the middle of the ocean.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It has reached some of the most remote islands on Earth, like Henderson Island in the Pacific.
Its caterpillar is dark grey with a white stripe down the back, red spots and a yellow head.
The caterpillar makes a loose cocoon among the fallen leaves under its food plant.
Its head and middle body are yellowish with black spots.
Most asked questions about Heliotrope moth
?Where does the heliotrope moth live?
In warm places around the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including Australia and New Zealand, and even on far-off islands.
?What does the heliotrope moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat heliotrope, forget-me-nots and similar plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Utetheisa pulchelloides
- Named by
- Hampson, 1907
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania, Africa, Europe
Where the facts come from
- Utetheisa pulchelloides (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 Vengolis. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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