Common tan wave
Pleuroprucha insulsaria
The common tan wave is a tiny pale brown moth. It lives in a huge area, from Canada all the way down to South America. Its caterpillars are not fussy and eat many different plants.
Lives in
From eastern North America through Mexico and Central America to South America, the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands
Wingspan
1.4 to 2.1 cm (0.55 to 0.83 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat many plants, such as nightshade, bedstraw, corn, goldenrod, chestnut, oak and willow.
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 38 seconds
How big is Common tan wave 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 tan wave about 10 km/h (6.2 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 wings are only about 1.5 to 2 centimetres from tip to tip.
2
In the south it flies from spring to October, in the north from June to October.
3
It has even been found on the faraway Galápagos Islands.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common tan wave
?What does the common tan wave eat?
Its caterpillars eat lots of plants, from corn and goldenrod to oak and willow.
?Is the common tan wave harmful?
No. It is a tiny harmless moth.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pleuroprucha insulsaria
- Named by
- Guenée, 1857
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Pleuroprucha insulsaria (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 NCBioTeacher. CC0, 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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