Water veneer
The water veneer is a tiny white moth that lives a secret life under water. Most females have no proper wings at all and live on the water surface. The mothers even dive under water to lay their eggs on water plants.
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Fun facts
Most of its life happens under water, which is very unusual for a moth.
The caterpillar glues bits of plant together to build itself a little shelter.
It turns into a pupa inside an underwater cocoon filled with air.
People use it to fight a weedy water plant called Eurasian watermilfoil.
It probably came to Canada by accident in the 1920s.
Most asked questions about Water veneer
?Can moths live under water?
The water veneer can. Its caterpillar and pupa live under water, and most females never leave the water.
?What does the water veneer eat?
Its caterpillars eat water plants, especially watermilfoil.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Acentria ephemerella
- Named by
- Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Crambidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Crambidae
- Lives on
- Europe, North America
- Also known as
- Watermilfoil moth
Where the facts come from
- Acentria (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 Ilia Ustyantsev from Russia. CC BY-SA 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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