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Sticker of Long-legged china-mark
Bug card No. 2672 of 4,939

Long-legged china-mark

Dolicharthria punctalis
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The long-legged china-mark is a small moth from Europe. Its caterpillars are some of the strangest eaters around. Besides plants, they will even munch dry leaves, old roots and plant waste.

Lives in
Mainly central and southern Europe, sometimes further north
Wingspan
2 to 2.5 cm (0.79 to 0.98 in)
Top speed
about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat knapweeds, plantain, clover and wormwood.
For real!Photo of Long-legged china-mark
Picture by de:Benutzer:Engeser , uploaded by User:Fvlamoen. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Long-legged china-mark wings about 2.5 cm tip to tip (0.98 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
wings as wide as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 34 seconds

How big is Long-legged china-mark compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its caterpillars have been found eating eelgrass, a plant that grows under the sea.

2

The moths fly from May to September, depending on where they live.

3

Its wings measure only about 2 to 2.5 centimetres from tip to tip.

4

Scientists are still deciding whether it should have its own group, called Stenia.

you asked

Most asked questions about Long-legged china-mark

?What does the long-legged china-mark eat?

Its caterpillars eat plants like clover, plantain and knapweed, and even dry leaves and old roots.

?Where does the long-legged china-mark live?

Mostly in central and southern Europe, but it has been seen further north too.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Dolicharthria punctalis
Group
Moths
Family
Crambidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Crambidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Dolicharthria punctalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by de:Benutzer:Engeser , uploaded by User:Fvlamoen. 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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