Bug card No. 0196 of 4,939

Asteroid moth

Cucullia asteroides

Eats: Plants MothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The asteroid moth is a North American moth with a funny name. It has nothing to do with space rocks: its name comes from aster flowers. It belongs to the owlet moths, a big family of night fliers.

Lives in

North America

Top speed

about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. It is a moth that cannot bite or sting.

What does it eat?

Its caterpillars feed on goldenrod and aster plants, which is where its names come from.

Photo of Asteroid moth — Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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)

Asteroid moth about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Its other name is the goldenrod hooded owlet.

Hooded owlets have a crest of hair behind the head that looks like a little hood.

It belongs to the owlet moths, one of the biggest moth families in the world.

you asked

Most asked questions about Asteroid moth

?Why is it called the asteroid moth?

Its name comes from aster flowers, not from space. Its caterpillars feed on asters and goldenrod.

?Where does the asteroid moth live?

In North America.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Cucullia asteroides
Group: Moths
Family: Noctuidae
Classification: Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
Lives on: North America
Also known as: Goldenrod hooded owlet

Where the facts come from

Cucullia asteroides (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 xpda. 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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