Palm moth
The palm moth is a very big moth that flies in the daytime and looks like a butterfly. Its front wings are dark green-brown, and its back wings are bright red with black and white spots. It comes from South America, but its larvae now eat palm trees in Europe.
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Fun facts
It arrived in southern France in the 1990s, probably hidden in palm trees brought from Argentina.
In the Russian city of Sochi it harmed more than 200 palm trees in two years.
At home in South America it does little harm, but in Europe it is a big problem for palms.
Its feelers have little clubs at the tips, like a butterfly's.
The caterpillar builds its cocoon from palm fibres inside its tunnel.
Most asked questions about Palm moth
?Is the palm moth a butterfly?
No, it is a moth, but it flies by day and has clubbed feelers, so it is easy to mistake for a butterfly.
?Why is the palm moth a problem?
Its larvae eat palm trees from the inside and can kill them.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Paysandisia archon
- Named by
- Burmeister, 1879
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Castniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Castniidae
- Lives on
- South America, Europe
Where the facts come from
- Paysandisia archon (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.
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