Texas wasp moth
The Texas wasp moth is a moth in disguise. It looks just like a paper wasp, so birds and other hungry animals leave it alone. But it is a harmless moth and cannot sting at all.
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Fun facts
Copying the look of a dangerous animal is called mimicry. This moth copies paper wasps.
It can be seen flying all year round.
There are three forms, living in Texas and Mexico, in Panama and the Caribbean, and in southern Brazil and Argentina.
Most asked questions about Texas wasp moth
?Can the Texas wasp moth sting?
No. It just looks like a wasp to scare away hungry animals.
?Where does the Texas wasp moth live?
From the southern United States through Central America and the Caribbean to South America.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Horama panthalon
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1793
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Horama panthalon (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 Clinton & Charles Robertson from Del Rio, Texas & College Station, TX, USA. 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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