Ranchman's tiger moth
Arctia virginalis
The Ranchman's tiger moth wears a black coat covered in pale yellow spots. When it opens its wings, bright orange hindwings with black bands appear. Its caterpillar is fluffy, with long hairs.
Lives in
Western North America, in wet meadows, wet forests and along creeks
What does it eat?
The caterpillars eat many kinds of soft, leafy plants.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Ranchman's tiger moth about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Each front wing is about 26 to 31 millimetres long.
2
Grown-up moths fly in summer.
3
Its caterpillar is covered in thick, long hairs that are orange at both ends and black in the middle.
4
Scientists used to put it in a different genus called Platyprepia before moving it to Arctia.
you asked
Most asked questions about Ranchman's tiger moth
?What does the Ranchman's tiger moth look like?
Its front wings are black with yellow spots, and its back wings are usually orange with black bands.
?What do its caterpillars eat?
They eat many kinds of soft, leafy plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Arctia virginalis
- Named by
- Boisduval, 1852
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Arctia virginalis (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 Lsadonkey. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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