Sweetheart underwing
Catocala amatrix
The sweetheart underwing is a big moth from North America. It belongs to the underwings, moths that hide colourful back wings under plain front wings. Its wings can be almost 10 centimetres across.
Lives in
From Nova Scotia and Ontario south to Florida and west to Arizona and Montana, near poplars and willows
Wingspan
7.5 to 9.5 cm (3 to 3.7 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of poplars, cottonwoods, aspens and willows.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🧱wings as wide as 3 toy building bricks⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 17 seconds
How big is Sweetheart underwing compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Sweetheart underwing about 22 km/h (14 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
The grown-up moths fly from August to October.
2
In 2013 an old display model of this moth was found in a second-hand shop in Florida.
3
Its caterpillars have been found on five different kinds of poplar and willow trees.
you asked
Most asked questions about Sweetheart underwing
?How big is the sweetheart underwing?
Its wings are about 7.5 to 9.5 centimetres across.
?What does the sweetheart underwing caterpillar eat?
Leaves of poplars, aspens, cottonwoods and willows.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Catocala amatrix
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Catocala amatrix (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 Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org. CC BY 3.0 us, 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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