Hackberry dagger
Acronicta rubricoma

The hackberry dagger is a moth from the eastern United States and Canada. It is named after the hackberry tree, one of the trees its caterpillars eat. It flies in the warm months from spring to autumn.
Lives in
Eastern North America, from southern Ontario and New York to Florida, Texas and Kansas
Wingspan
3.8 to 4.4 cm (1.5 to 1.7 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of elm, hackberry and sumac.

How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
๐wings as wide as 7 grains of rice in a rowโฝcould fly across a whole football pitch in 25 seconds
How big is Hackberry dagger compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
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)
Hackberry dagger about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It has two families of babies a year.
2
It flies from April to October, depending on where it lives.
3
Its wings measure about 4 centimetres from tip to tip.
you asked
Most asked questions about Hackberry dagger
?What does the hackberry dagger eat?
Its caterpillars eat elm, hackberry and sumac leaves.
?Where does the hackberry dagger live?
In eastern North America, from southern Canada to Florida and Texas.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Acronicta rubricoma
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Ruddy dagger moth
Where the facts come from
- Acronicta rubricoma (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 Jacy Lucier. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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