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Sticker of Apple looper
Bug card No. 0127 of 4,939

Apple looper

Phrissogonus laticostata
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The apple looper is a tiny moth from Australia and New Zealand. Its caterpillar is a looper: it walks by bending its body into a loop and then stretching out again. The moth itself is so small it would fit on your fingertip.

Lives in
Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand
Wingspan
1.5 cm (0.59 in)
Top speed
about 8.6 km/h (5.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a tiny moth that cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The caterpillars eat the leaves of plants such as sunflowers, St John's wort, clematis and wattle trees.
For real!Photo of Apple looper
Picture by dhobern. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Apple looper wings about 1.5 cm tip to tip (0.59 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)
could fly across a whole football pitch in 44 seconds

How big is Apple looper compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

With its wings spread out it is only about 1.5 centimetres wide.

2

It is the only species in its genus, so it has no close sisters.

3

Its caterpillars are not fussy and eat plants from very different families, from sunflowers to wattle trees.

you asked

Most asked questions about Apple looper

?How big is the apple looper?

Tiny. Its wings measure only about 15 millimetres from tip to tip.

?What does the apple looper caterpillar eat?

Leaves of sunflowers, St John's wort, clematis and wattle trees.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Phrissogonus laticostata
Named by
Walker, 1862
Group
Moths
Family
Geometridae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Phrissogonus (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 dhobern. 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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More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

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