Bug Wiki
Sticker of Common pug
Bug card No. 1115 of 4,939

Common pug

Eupithecia vulgata
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The common pug is a small moth whose colours change a lot from one moth to the next. Its front wings can be brown, reddish, yellowish or whitish, with fine wavy lines. It flies at night and loves to come to lights.

Lives in
Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia to Korea, in gardens, parks, hedges and forest edges
Wingspan
1.8 to 2.1 cm (0.71 to 0.83 in)
Top speed
about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat many different plants, such as yarrow, hawthorn, willow, goldenrod and bilberry.
For real!Photo of Common pug
Picture by gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Common pug wings about 2.1 cm tip to tip (0.83 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 4 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 38 seconds

How big is Common pug compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its caterpillar is long and thin, grey green or light brown, with darker diamond shaped spots on its back.

2

There are two broods a year, flying in May and June and again in August.

3

It spends the winter as a pupa.

4

In the Alps it lives as high as 1,500 metres up the mountains.

you asked

Most asked questions about Common pug

?What does the common pug eat?

Its caterpillars eat many plants, like yarrow, hawthorn, willow and bilberry.

?When does the common pug fly?

At night, in May and June and again in August. It often comes to lights.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eupithecia vulgata
Group
Moths
Family
Geometridae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Common pug (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 gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K. 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.

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: Gardens and meadows

Honey jarfor grown-ups