Willow beauty
The willow beauty is a pale grey moth so heavily sprinkled with tiny brown and black dots that it looks dusty. Two broken dark lines curve across its wings. When it rests flat on tree bark, it is very hard to spot.
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Fun facts
Even though it is called the willow beauty, its caterpillar hardly ever eats willow leaves.
Males have feathery feelers, while females have almost smooth ones.
It spends the winter as a tiny caterpillar.
It flies at night and is attracted to lights.
Most asked questions about Willow beauty
?Does the willow beauty eat willow?
Hardly ever. Its caterpillar eats many other trees and bushes instead.
?When can you see the willow beauty?
In summer, at night, often near lamps.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Peribatodes rhomboidaria
- Named by
- Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Willow beauty (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 Olei. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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