Virgin tiger moth
The virgin tiger moth is a tiger moth from North America with a bold pattern on its wings. Its hairy caterpillars spend the winter as caterpillars and keep eating low plants in spring. It was one of the first animals Carl Linnaeus gave a scientific name.
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Fun facts
It spends the winter as a caterpillar.
A bigger kind of it lives in the south-east of the United States, including the Great Smoky Mountains.
Scientists used to put it in a group called Grammia, but moved it to Apantesis.
Most asked questions about Virgin tiger moth
?How big is the virgin tiger moth?
With its wings spread it is about 5.5 centimetres wide.
?What does the virgin tiger moth caterpillar eat?
Many low-growing plants, such as plantain.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Apantesis virgo
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Apantesis virgo (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 Unknown author Unknown author. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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