Bug Wiki
Sticker of Bride underwing
Bug card No. 0617 of 4,939

Bride underwing

Catocala neogama
Eats: PlantsMothsForests and woods6 legs

The bride underwing is a big moth with plain brownish grey front wings. Hidden underneath are back wings in bright orange with bold black bands. When it rests on tree bark with its wings closed, it is very hard to see.

Lives in
North America east of the Rocky Mountains, west to Arizona and Texas
Wingspan
7 to 8.5 cm (2.8 to 3.3 in)
Top speed
about 20 km/h (12 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 walnut, butternut and hickory trees.
For real!Photo of Bride underwing
Picture by Nancy. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Bride underwing wings about 8.5 cm tip to tip (3.3 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 2.5 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 19 seconds

How big is Bride underwing compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The moths in the far west are bigger, with wings about 9 centimetres across.

2

Its legs are covered in little spines.

3

It flies from June to October.

4

A similar but smaller moth is called the old wife underwing.

you asked

Most asked questions about Bride underwing

?What does the bride underwing eat?

Its caterpillars eat walnut, butternut and hickory leaves.

?How big is the bride underwing?

Its wings are about 7 to 8.5 centimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Catocala neogama
Named by
J. E. Smith, 1797
Group
Moths
Family
Erebidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Erebidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Bride

Where the facts come from

  1. Catocala neogama (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 Nancy. CC0, 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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More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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