Small engrailed
Ectropis crepuscularia
The small engrailed is a grey or buff moth with darker wavy lines on its wings. Some of them are almost completely dark. It flies at night and likes bright lamps.
Lives in
Europe, Asia and North America, in woods and gardens
Wingspan
3.8 to 4.5 cm (1.5 to 1.8 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its grey caterpillar eats leaves from a huge number of plants, from birch and oak to roses, clover and pine trees.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 8 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 25 seconds
How big is Small engrailed 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)
Small engrailed about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its caterpillar is called the saddleback looper.
2
The caterpillar is not picky at all. Scientists have found it eating more than 40 kinds of plants.
3
It spends the winter as a pupa and comes out as a moth in spring.
4
It lives as far north as the Arctic Circle.
you asked
Most asked questions about Small engrailed
?Is the small engrailed dangerous?
No. It is a harmless moth.
?What does the small engrailed caterpillar eat?
Leaves from many trees and plants, like birch, oak, willow, apple and clover.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ectropis crepuscularia
- Named by
- Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
- Also known as
- Engrailed
Where the facts come from
- Engrailed (moth) (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 Dumi. 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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