The flame
The flame is a creamy-buff night moth with dark brown streaks along the front edge of its wings. When it rests, it wraps its wings tightly around its body. Then it looks just like a broken twig.
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Fun facts
Most moths in its family rest with flat wings, so its twig disguise is unusual.
Its caterpillar is grey or brown with black markings and has a hump at the back end.
It spends the winter as a pupa.
In Britain it flies in June and July, and sometimes a second group flies in September.
Most asked questions about The flame
?Why does the flame moth look like a twig?
It wraps its wings tightly around its body when resting, which makes it look like a broken twig.
?How big is the flame moth?
Its wingspan is about 30 to 36 millimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Axylia putris
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Flame
Where the facts come from
- Axylia putris (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 Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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