Bad-wing moth
Dyspteris abortivaria
The bad-wing moth is a small moth from North America with oddly shaped wings. Its front wings are much bigger than its back wings. That strange shape gave it its funny name.
Lives in
North America, in woods and along their edges
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Moths cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat plant leaves.
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)
Bad-wing 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
Because its back wings are so small, scientists find it hard to spread its wings neatly for a museum collection. That is why they called it bad-wing.
2
It is the only species in its genus, Dyspteris.
3
It was first described in 1855 by a German scientist.
you asked
Most asked questions about Bad-wing moth
?Why is it called the bad-wing moth?
Its front wings are much bigger than its back wings, which makes its wings hard to spread out for collections.
?Where does the bad-wing moth live?
In North America.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dyspteris abortivaria
- Named by
- Herrich-Schäffer, 1855
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Bad-wing
Where the facts come from
- Dyspteris (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 judygva (back in town and trying to catch up). CC BY 2.0, 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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