Bug Wiki
Sticker of Dot-underwing moth
Bug card No. 1392 of 4,939

Dot-underwing moth

Eudocima materna
Eats: PlantsMothsRainforests and jungles6 legs

The dot-underwing moth is a big moth with greenish grey front wings. When it opens them, you see orange back wings with a black band and a small black dot in the middle. That dot gives it its name.

Lives in
Tropical Asia, New Guinea, Australia and Africa
Wingspan
6 to 9.6 cm (2.4 to 3.8 in)
Top speed
about 22 km/h (14 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of climbing moonseed vines.
For real!Photo of Dot-underwing moth
Picture by Moore, Frederic. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Dot-underwing moth wings about 9.6 cm tip to tip (3.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 3 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 17 seconds

How big is Dot-underwing moth compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The little black dot in the middle of each back wing tells it apart from its cousins.

2

The male has a bright orange tummy.

3

The female's front wings have big silvery patches.

4

A very similar moth in America was once thought to be the same kind, but it is a different species.

you asked

Most asked questions about Dot-underwing moth

?Why is it called the dot-underwing?

Because its orange back wings each have a small black dot in the middle.

?How big is the dot-underwing moth?

It is big. Its open wings measure about 6 to 9.6 cm across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eudocima materna
Named by
Linnaeus, 1767
Group
Moths
Family
Erebidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
Lives on
Asia, Australia and Oceania, Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Eudocima materna (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Moore, Frederic. Public domain, 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.

Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip

More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Rainforests and jungles

Honey jarfor grown-ups