Clouded magpie
The clouded magpie is a white moth with brownish patches on its wings. When it sits still on top of a leaf, it looks just like a bird dropping. That clever disguise keeps hungry birds away.
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Fun facts
Its wings are so thinly covered in scales that you can almost see through them.
The caterpillar is easy to spot, with long black and yellow stripes along its body.
It flies at night and likes to come to lamps, but in the morning you can often find it resting.
It spends the winter as a pupa hidden under the ground.
Most asked questions about Clouded magpie
?What does the clouded magpie caterpillar eat?
It eats the leaves of trees, mostly elm and beech.
?Why does the clouded magpie look like bird poo?
Birds do not want to eat bird droppings, so looking like one keeps the moth safe while it rests.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Abraxas sylvata
- Named by
- Scopoli, 1763
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Abraxas sylvata (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 Ivar Leidus. 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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