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Sticker of Morning-glory prominent
Bug card No. 2907 of 4,939

Morning-glory prominent

Schizura ipomaeae
Eats: PlantsMothsForests and woods6 legs

The morning-glory prominent is a moth from North America. Its caterpillar has a funny nickname, the false unicorn caterpillar. The caterpillars munch the leaves of many trees and bushes.

Lives in
The United States and southern Canada, in woods and gardens
Wingspan
3.6 to 4.7 cm (1.4 to 1.9 in)
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Moths cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat leaves of beech, birch, elm, maple, oak, witch hazel, roses and morning glory.
For real!Photo of Morning-glory prominent
Picture by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Morning-glory prominent wings about 4.7 cm tip to tip (1.9 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 8 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 25 seconds

How big is Morning-glory prominent compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its caterpillars can be found from May to October.

2

It spends the winter as a pupa, safely tucked away until spring.

3

In the warm south the moths fly from April to September. In the north they only fly in summer, and there is just one generation a year.

you asked

Most asked questions about Morning-glory prominent

?What is a false unicorn caterpillar?

It is the nickname of the caterpillar of the morning-glory prominent moth.

?What does the morning-glory prominent eat?

Its caterpillars eat leaves of many trees and plants, such as oak, maple, birch, roses and morning glory.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Schizura ipomaeae
Named by
Doubleday, 1841
Group
Moths
Family
Notodontidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Notodontidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Morning-glory prominent moth, False unicorn caterpillar

Where the facts come from

  1. Schizura ipomoeae (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 Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, 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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Also at home here: Forests and woods

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