Common carpet moth
Epirrhoe alternata
The common carpet moth has grey, brown and white stripes on its wings, like a patterned carpet. A wide pale band runs across the middle of its front wings. It flies at night and likes to come to lights.
Lives in
Europe, Asia and the north of North America
Wingspan
2.7 to 3 cm (1.1 to 1.2 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat bedstraw plants.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 5 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 32 seconds
How big is Common carpet moth 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)
Common carpet moth about 12 km/h (7.5 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
Its caterpillar can be brown or green and has many different patterns.
2
It spends the winter as a pupa.
3
Moths from the far north are usually paler than those from the south.
4
There can be one or two families of moths in a year, flying from May to September.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common carpet moth
?What does the common carpet moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat bedstraw.
?Why is it called a carpet moth?
Its striped and patterned wings look a bit like a carpet.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Epirrhoe alternata
- Named by
- Müller, 1764
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
- Also known as
- Common carpet, White-banded toothed carpet
Where the facts come from
- Common carpet (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 Olei. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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