Bug card No. 1653 of 4,939

Festoon

Apoda limacodes

Eats: Plants MothsForests and woods6 legs

The festoon is a small moth that lives in thick woods across most of Europe. Its caterpillar is small and looks more like a little grub than a normal caterpillar. The moth mostly flies at night.

Lives in

Most of Europe, in thick woodlands

Wingspan

2.4 to 2.8 cm (0.94 to 1.1 in)

males are a little smaller than females

Top speed

about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. It does not bite or sting.

What does it eat?

Its caterpillars eat the leaves of oak and beech trees.

Photo of Festoon — Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

wings as wide as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 32 seconds

How big is Festoon 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)

Festoon 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

After storms, lots of its caterpillars are often found, from August to October.

It usually flies at night, but now and then it flies in the daytime.

Males are a little smaller and darker than females.

In Great Britain it is scarce.

you asked

Most asked questions about Festoon

?What does the festoon moth eat?

Its caterpillars eat oak and beech leaves.

?How big is the festoon?

Its wings measure about 24 to 28 millimetres from tip to tip.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Apoda limacodes
Group: Moths
Family: Limacodidae
Classification: Insecta > Lepidoptera > Limacodidae
Lives on: Europe

Where the facts come from

Apoda limacodes (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 Didier Descouens. 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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