Red chestnut
The red chestnut is a reddish-brown moth that comes out early in spring. Its front wings are red brown mixed with grey, and its back wings are grey. It lives across Europe and Asia, all the way to Japan.
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Fun facts
Its wings are 32 to 38 millimetres from tip to tip.
It is one of the early moths of the year and flies from March to May.
In the far north it lives just past the Arctic Circle.
Not all red chestnuts look the same. In Britain most are almost all reddish, with pink edges on the wings.
Most asked questions about Red chestnut
?When can you see the red chestnut?
In spring, from March to May.
?What does the red chestnut eat?
Its caterpillars eat low plants like woodrushes, bird's-foot trefoil and speedwell.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Cerastis rubricosa
- Named by
- Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Cerastis rubricosa (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 Myself. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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