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Sticker of Rosy rustic
Bug card No. 3669 of 4,939

Rosy rustic

Hydraecia micacea
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The rosy rustic is a night moth in soft brown and grey colours, often with a pink blush. It flies late in the year, from summer into autumn. Its caterpillar lives on many kinds of plants.

Lives in
From Ireland across Europe and Asia to Siberia and Japan, and brought to eastern North America
Wingspan
2.8 to 4.5 cm (1.1 to 1.8 in)
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The caterpillars eat many kinds of soft plants, including potato plants.
For real!Photo of Rosy rustic
Picture by User:Fvlamoen. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Rosy rustic wings about 4.5 cm tip to tip (1.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 8 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 25 seconds

How big is Rosy rustic compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its colour changes a lot: some are pale and yellowish, some dark olive grey, and many have a rosy tint.

2

It has one family each year, flying from early July to November.

3

Its caterpillar is a reddish flesh colour with a shiny red brown head.

4

It looks so much like two other moths that only an expert with a microscope can tell them apart.

you asked

Most asked questions about Rosy rustic

?What does the rosy rustic eat?

Its caterpillars eat many soft plants, even potatoes.

?How big is the rosy rustic?

Its open wings measure 28 to 45 millimetres from tip to tip.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Hydraecia micacea
Group
Moths
Family
Noctuidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Hydraecia micacea (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 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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More from the same group: Moths

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