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Sticker of Coffee-loving pyrausta moth
Bug card No. 0961 of 4,939

Coffee-loving pyrausta moth

Pyrausta tyralis
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The coffee-loving pyrausta is a tiny moth from the warm parts of the Americas. Its wings are less than 2 centimetres from tip to tip. Its caterpillars like plants from the coffee family, which gave it its funny name.

Lives in
Southern United States, Mexico, Central America, Venezuela and the West Indies
Wingspan
1.7 cm (0.67 in)
Top speed
about 9.1 km/h (5.7 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat wild coffee plants, bur marigolds and dahlias.
For real!Photo of Coffee-loving pyrausta moth
Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Coffee-loving pyrausta moth wings about 1.7 cm tip to tip (0.67 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)
could fly across a whole football pitch in 42 seconds

How big is Coffee-loving pyrausta moth compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It has been seen flying in every month of the year.

2

Its wings are only about 1.7 centimetres from tip to tip.

3

Its caterpillars also eat dahlias, a popular garden flower.

you asked

Most asked questions about Coffee-loving pyrausta moth

?Why is it called coffee-loving?

Because its caterpillars eat wild coffee plants, which belong to the coffee family.

?Where does the coffee-loving pyrausta live?

From the United States through Mexico and Central America to Venezuela and the West Indies.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Pyrausta tyralis
Named by
Guenée, 1854
Group
Moths
Family
Crambidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Crambidae
Lives on
North America, South America

Where the facts come from

  1. Pyrausta tyralis (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 xpda. 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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