Orange-spotted flower moth
Syngamia florella
The orange-spotted flower moth is a tiny moth, small enough to sit on your fingernail. As its name says, it has orange spots. It lives in warm parts of the Americas.
Lives in
From the southern United States through Mexico and the West Indies to Argentina, and on Bermuda
Wingspan
1.5 cm (0.59 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Moths cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat small wild plants called buttonweeds.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 44 seconds
How big is Orange-spotted flower moth compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Orange-spotted flower moth about 8.6 km/h (5.3 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its wings measure only about one and a half centimetres from tip to tip.
2
In most places it flies from July to December. In Florida it has only been seen from September to December.
3
It lives in a huge area, from South Carolina all the way down to Argentina, and even on the island of Bermuda.
you asked
Most asked questions about Orange-spotted flower moth
?How big is the orange-spotted flower moth?
Very small. Its wingspan is only about 1.5 centimetres.
?What do its caterpillars eat?
Small wild plants called buttonweeds.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Syngamia florella
- Named by
- Stoll, 1781
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Crambidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Crambidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Red waisted florella moth
Where the facts come from
- Syngamia florella (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 Bob Peterson. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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