Bug card No. 3108 of 4,939

Olive-shaded bird-dropping moth

Ponometia candefacta

Eats: Plants MothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The olive-shaded bird-dropping moth is a small moth from North America. Its funny name comes from its colours, which can make it look a bit like a bird dropping on a leaf. Birds are not very interested in eating something that looks like that.

Lives in

North America, from the northern United States to southern Mexico, in dry weedy places

Wingspan

1.8 to 2.2 cm (0.71 to 0.87 in)

Top speed

about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.

What does it eat?

Its caterpillars eat plants of the daisy family, such as asters and ragweed.

Photo of Olive-shaded bird-dropping moth — Picture by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

wings as wide as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 38 seconds

How big is Olive-shaded bird-dropping 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)

Olive-shaded bird-dropping moth 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

People brought it to Russia on purpose, so its caterpillars would eat ragweed, a weed that gives many people hay fever.

Its caterpillars are green with a white stripe along each side.

It likes dry, weedy places where the ground has been dug up or disturbed.

The grown-up moths fly in the warm months, from April to September.

you asked

Most asked questions about Olive-shaded bird-dropping moth

?Is the olive-shaded bird-dropping moth harmful?

No. It is harmless, and its caterpillars even help by eating ragweed.

?How big is the olive-shaded bird-dropping moth?

Its wings are about 2 centimetres across from tip to tip.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Ponometia candefacta
Group: Moths
Family: Noctuidae
Classification: Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
Lives on: North America, Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

Ponometia candefacta (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 Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, 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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