Florida fern moth
The Florida fern moth is a moth from America whose caterpillars love ferns. In Florida and the warm tropics, it flies all year round. Its caterpillar has a very strange record.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Florida fern moth compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
When its caterpillars eat a certain fern, they store a poison called arsenic in their bodies. No other land animal is known to do this.
It sometimes becomes a pest in greenhouses, where it munches the ferns.
It lives in a huge area, from Canada all the way down to Ecuador.
Most asked questions about Florida fern moth
?What does the Florida fern moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat ferns, like the Boston fern.
?Where does the Florida fern moth live?
From North America through the Caribbean and Central America to Ecuador.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Callopistria floridensis
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Florida fern caterpillar
Where the facts come from
- Callopistria floridensis (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 Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Atlas moth
Luna moth
Hummingbird hawk-moth
Domestic silk moth
Isabella tiger moth
Polyphemus moth
Dusky wireworm
Elongated bean weevil
Chocolate-band snail
Banded-legged golden orb-web spider
Rathke's woodlouse
Clown isopod.jpg){kind=link}