Bug Wiki
Sticker of Gold spot
Bug card No. 1929 of 4,939

Gold spot

Plusia festucae
Eats: PlantsMothsPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The gold spot is a moth with deep golden brown wings that shine like metal. On each front wing it has big silvery spots, as if someone painted them on with glitter.

Lives in
Europe and Asia, from Ireland all the way to Japan, near wet places
Wingspan
3.4 to 4.6 cm (1.3 to 1.8 in)
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a moth that cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat plants that like wet ground, such as sedges, yellow iris and bur-reed.
For real!Photo of Gold spot
Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Gold spot wings about 4.6 cm tip to tip (1.8 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 8 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 25 seconds

How big is Gold spot compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It flies from June to September, depending on where it lives.

2

Its caterpillar is green with white stripes along its body.

3

To turn into a moth, the caterpillar folds a blade of grass in half and spins a whitish cocoon underneath it.

4

Its back wings are a dull bronze colour with a pinkish fringe.

you asked

Most asked questions about Gold spot

?Where does the gold spot live?

All the way from Ireland to Japan, across Europe and Asia.

?What does the gold spot eat?

Its caterpillars eat sedges, yellow iris, bur-reed and other plants that like wet places.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Plusia festucae
Group
Moths
Family
Noctuidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Plusia festucae (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 Charles J. Sharp. 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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More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores

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