Poplar hawk-moth
The poplar hawk-moth is a big grey moth that sits in a funny way, with its back wings poking out in front of its front wings. Resting like that, it looks like a bunch of dry leaves. If you startle it, it flashes a bright orange-red patch.
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Fun facts
The orange-red flash on its back wings may scare off a bird for a moment.
Its caterpillar is green with yellow stripes and a little horn on its tail. It can grow to 6,5 to 8,5 centimetres long.
The caterpillar digs a few centimetres into the ground to turn into a pupa, and spends the winter there.
The moth lives only a few weeks and never eats, because it has no working tongue.
It is one of the most common hawk-moths in Europe and loves flying to lights.
Most asked questions about Poplar hawk-moth
?What does the poplar hawk-moth eat?
The moth eats nothing at all. Its caterpillars eat leaves of poplar, aspen and willow.
?How big is the poplar hawk-moth?
Its wings are 7 to 10 centimetres from tip to tip, so it is a big moth.
?Is the poplar hawk-moth caterpillar dangerous?
No. The horn on its tail looks sharp, but it is harmless.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Laothoe populi
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Poplar hawkmoth
Where the facts come from
- Poplar hawkmoth (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 Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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