Straw dot
Rivula sericealis
The straw dot is a small moth with wings the colour of straw. In the middle of each front wing sits a dark brown spot with two little black dots inside. It flutters low over damp grassy places.
Lives in
Europe, North Africa and across Asia to Japan, in damp grassland and open woods
Wingspan
1.8 to 2.2 cm (0.71 to 0.87 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its green caterpillars eat grasses.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 4 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 38 seconds
How big is Straw dot 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)
Straw dot about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It flies from May to October.
2
Its caterpillar is green with a darker line down the back and white lines on the sides.
3
It looks a lot like another moth called the garden pebble.
4
It likes damp meadows, wasteland, alder woods and parks.
you asked
Most asked questions about Straw dot
?What does the straw dot caterpillar eat?
Grasses, such as false brome and purple moor grass.
?How big is the straw dot moth?
With its wings spread it is about 2 centimetres wide.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Rivula sericealis
- Named by
- Scopoli, 1763
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Rivula sericealis (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 Ivar Leidus. 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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