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Sticker of Small phoenix
Bug card No. 3933 of 4,939

Small phoenix

Ecliptopera silaceata
Eats: PlantsMothsForests and woods6 legs

The small phoenix is a small moth with dark brown wings. Many have a white oval mark in the middle of each front wing, and little orange strokes near the edge. Its back wings are whitish grey with a tiny black heart.

Lives in
Most of Europe, across Russia, and also North America
Wingspan
2.3 to 2.7 cm (0.91 to 1.1 in)
Top speed
about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat mostly willowherbs.
For real!Photo of Small phoenix
Picture by Ben Sale from Stevenage, UK. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Small phoenix wings about 2.7 cm tip to tip (1.1 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)
wings as wide as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 32 seconds

How big is Small phoenix compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its caterpillar is long and thin and can be green or pinkish.

2

There are two families of young each year, flying in early summer and again in late summer.

3

It spends the winter as a brownish green pupa.

4

It likes half-shady places in leafy and mixed woods, and heaths.

you asked

Most asked questions about Small phoenix

?What does the small phoenix eat?

Its caterpillars eat mostly willowherbs.

?How big is the small phoenix moth?

Small, with wings about 23 to 27 millimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Ecliptopera silaceata
Named by
Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
Group
Moths
Family
Geometridae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Ecliptopera silaceata (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 Ben Sale from Stevenage, UK. 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: Forests and woods

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