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Sticker of Morning-glory plume moth
Bug card No. 2906 of 4,939

Morning-glory plume moth

Emmelina monodactyla
Name means: “named after the morning glory plants its caterpillars eat”
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The morning-glory plume moth is a thin, pale moth with feathery wings. When it rests, it rolls its wings up so tightly that it looks like a little stick with legs. It can be off-white or a rusty brown colour.

Lives in
Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America, in gardens and fields
Wingspan
1.8 to 2.7 cm (0.71 to 1.1 in)
Top speed
about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The caterpillar eats bindweed and morning glory plants, and sometimes sweet potato, fat-hen and other plants.
For real!Photo of Morning-glory plume moth
Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Morning-glory plume moth wings about 2.7 cm tip to tip (1.1 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
wings as wide as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 32 seconds

How big is Morning-glory plume moth compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It flies nearly all year round, so you might even spot it on a mild winter day.

2

Its caterpillar is greenish yellow with a wide green stripe down its back.

3

The pupa can be green or reddish brown, sometimes with black marks.

you asked

Most asked questions about Morning-glory plume moth

?Why is it called the morning-glory plume?

Its caterpillars eat morning glory and bindweed, and its wings look like feathers, or plumes.

?Is the plume moth harmful?

No. It is harmless to people. Its caterpillars eat weeds like bindweed.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Emmelina monodactyla
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Moths
Family
Pterophoridae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pterophoridae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, Africa, North America
Also known as
Common plume

Where the facts come from

  1. Emmelina monodactyla (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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