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Sticker of Morbid owlet
Bug card No. 2902 of 4,939

Morbid owlet

Chytolita morbidalis
Eats: PlantsMothsForests and woods6 legs

The morbid owlet is a pale, greyish white moth with soft brown or orange lines on its wings. It lives in leafy woods across North America. Its caterpillars have a funny habit: they will even eat dead, dry leaves.

Lives in
Much of North America, in leafy woods and along their edges
Wingspan
2.9 to 3.5 cm (1.1 to 1.4 in)
Top speed
about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Moths cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of trees, dandelion, grass and lettuce, and even dried dead oak leaves.
For real!Photo of Morbid owlet
Picture by Aarongunnar. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Morbid owlet wings about 3.5 cm tip to tip (1.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 6 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 29 seconds

How big is Morbid owlet compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is the only species in its genus, Chytolita.

2

The moths fly from May to August, and there seems to be just one generation a year.

3

A smaller, darker moth was once thought to be a different species. DNA tests showed it is the same one.

you asked

Most asked questions about Morbid owlet

?What does the morbid owlet eat?

Its caterpillars eat leaves, both fresh ones and dry dead ones, and plants like dandelion and lettuce.

?How big is the morbid owlet?

Its wingspan is about 3 to 3.5 centimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Chytolita morbidalis
Named by
GuenΓ©e, 1854
Group
Moths
Family
Erebidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Morbid owlet moth

Where the facts come from

  1. Chytolita (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 Aarongunnar. 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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More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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