European pepper moth
The European pepper moth is a small brown moth from the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. Its caterpillars are not picky eaters at all. It has hitched rides with potted plants to many new countries.
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Fun facts
In North America it was first found as caterpillars in a shipment of begonias in California.
In 2005 it turned up in three greenhouses in Ontario, Canada.
By 2010 it had been found in at least 13 states of the United States.
Its caterpillars can even eat some water plants.
Most asked questions about European pepper moth
?Why is it called the pepper moth?
Pepper plants are one of the many plants its caterpillars eat.
?Is the European pepper moth a pest?
Yes. Its caterpillars damage many flowers and vegetables, especially in greenhouses.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Duponchelia fovealis
- Named by
- Zeller, 1847
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Crambidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Crambidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Duponchelia fovealis (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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