Northern wattle moth
Dasypodia cymatodes
The northern wattle moth is a big moth from Australia. Its wings are about 8 centimetres across, as wide as a grown-up's palm. It is named after the wattle trees that its caterpillars eat.
Lives in
Eastern Australia, and it has spread by itself to New Zealand
Wingspan
8 cm (3.1 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of wattle trees, also called acacias.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🧱wings as wide as 2.5 toy building bricks⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 19 seconds
How big is Northern wattle moth compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Northern wattle moth about 20 km/h (12 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Nobody brought it to New Zealand. It got there on its own.
2
It is also called the northern old lady moth.
3
It lives in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
you asked
Most asked questions about Northern wattle moth
?How big is the northern wattle moth?
Its wings are about 8 centimetres across, which is big for a moth.
?What does the northern wattle moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat leaves of wattle trees.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dasypodia cymatodes
- Named by
- Guenée, 1852
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Northern old lady moth
Where the facts come from
- Dasypodia cymatodes (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 Birgit E. Rhode, Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd.. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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