The spectacle
Abrostola tripartita
Name means: “named for the mark like a pair of glasses on the front of its body”
The spectacle is a grey and brown moth with a funny face. On the front of its body it has a pale mark ringed with black that looks just like a pair of glasses. When it looks at you, it seems to be wearing spectacles.
Lives in
Most of Europe and across Asia to Kazakhstan and the Amur region
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat stinging nettles.
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)
The spectacle 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 caterpillars happily munch stinging nettles, the plants that sting our legs.
2
Its wings have little raised tufts of scales.
3
It lives in almost every country in Europe, but not in Iceland.
you asked
Most asked questions about The spectacle
?Why is it called the spectacle?
Because the mark on the front of its body looks like a pair of glasses.
?What does the spectacle eat?
Its caterpillars eat stinging nettles.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Abrostola tripartita
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Abrostola tripartita (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 Fvlamoen. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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.
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