September thorn
The September thorn is a moth with straw yellow wings and thin brown stripes. The edges of its wings have little points and corners. Its caterpillar is a master of disguise and looks just like a small oak twig.
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Fun facts
Its brown caterpillar has knobby bumps, so it looks almost exactly like a twig of an oak tree.
It flies from July to October, which is how it got the name September thorn.
At night it is drawn to lamps and lights.
In the mountains of the southern Alps it lives as high as about 1600 metres.
Some September thorns are paler than others, and some have no stripes on their wings at all.
Most asked questions about September thorn
?What does the September thorn caterpillar look like?
It is brown with knobby bumps and looks like a small oak twig.
?What does the September thorn eat?
Its caterpillars eat leaves of oak, birch and lime trees.
?How big is the September thorn?
Its open wings measure about 30 to 35 millimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ennomos erosaria
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Ennomos erosaria (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 Fvlamoen. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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