Dusky thorn
Ennomos fuscantaria
The dusky thorn is a yellow moth with tiny grey and violet speckles on its wings. Grey brown lines run across its wings. It flies from summer into autumn.
Lives in
Western Europe, from central Scandinavia down to the Mediterranean and east to Russia
Wingspan
3.5 to 4 cm (1.4 to 1.6 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of ash trees, and also privet and other bushes.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 7 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 27 seconds
How big is Dusky thorn 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)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Dusky thorn about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its wings measure 3.5 to 4 centimetres from tip to tip.
2
The moths fly from July to October, depending on where they live.
3
It has close cousins that look almost the same, so it can be tricky to tell them apart.
you asked
Most asked questions about Dusky thorn
?What does the dusky thorn eat?
Its caterpillars eat leaves of ash trees, privet and other bushes.
?Is the dusky thorn dangerous?
No. It is a harmless moth.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ennomos fuscantaria
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Ennomos fuscantaria (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 Canberra, Australia. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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