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Sticker of Brassy longhorn
Bug card No. 0603 of 4,939

Brassy longhorn

Nemophora metallica
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The brassy longhorn is a small, shiny moth from Europe. Like its relatives, it has very long, thin feelers. You can see it in summer meadows, where its caterpillars live on purple scabious flowers.

Lives in
Europe, in flowery meadows
Wingspan
1.5 to 2 cm (0.59 to 0.79 in)
Top speed
about 9.9 km/h (6.2 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a tiny moth that cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The caterpillars feed on two meadow flowers, field scabious and small scabious.
For real!Photo of Brassy longhorn
Picture by Michael Kurz. CC BY-SA 3.0 at, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Brassy longhorn wings about 2 cm tip to tip (0.79 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
wings as wide as 3 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 38 seconds

How big is Brassy longhorn compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its wings measure 15 to 20 millimetres from tip to tip, smaller than a coin.

2

It flies from late June to August, depending on where it lives.

3

Its caterpillars eat only scabious flowers, pretty purple meadow plants that bees love too.

you asked

Most asked questions about Brassy longhorn

?Where does the brassy longhorn live?

In Europe, in meadows where scabious flowers grow.

?When does the brassy longhorn fly?

From late June to August.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Nemophora metallica
Group
Moths
Family
Adelidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Adelidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Nemophora metallica (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 Michael Kurz. CC BY-SA 3.0 at, 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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