Dark-spotted palthis moth
Palthis angulalis

The dark-spotted palthis is a small brown moth that lives across almost all of North America. Its caterpillars are not picky at all. They eat flowers, bushes and even pine-like trees such as fir and spruce.
Lives in
North America, from Newfoundland to British Columbia and south to Florida and Texas, in woods
Wingspan
2 to 2.6 cm (0.79 to 1 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Moths cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat many plants, such as alder, birch, goldenrod, rhododendron, oak, fir and spruce.

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 34 seconds
How big is Dark-spotted palthis 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)
Dark-spotted palthis moth about 11 km/h (6.8 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
In the east there are two generations a year, and in the warm south three or more.
2
Its caterpillars eat both soft plants and the needles of trees like fir and spruce.
3
In Alberta, Canada, the moths fly from May to August.
you asked
Most asked questions about Dark-spotted palthis moth
?What does the dark-spotted palthis eat?
Its caterpillars eat many plants, from goldenrod to birch, oak, fir and spruce.
?How big is the dark-spotted palthis?
Its wingspan is about 2 to 2.5 centimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Palthis angulalis
- Named by
- Hübner, 1796
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Erebidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Dark-spotted palthis
Where the facts come from
- Palthis angulalis (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 Mike Boone. CC BY-SA 2.5, 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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