Cabbage tree moth
The cabbage tree moth lives only in New Zealand. Its light brown wings have thin brown stripes that look just like the lines on a dead cabbage tree leaf. When it sits still on such a leaf, it almost disappears.
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Fun facts
It sits across the leaf so that the stripes on its wings line up with the leaf's veins.
If you scare it, it flies only a little way and lands on another dead brown leaf, never on a green one.
Its eggs are bright green at first, then slowly turn red.
The caterpillars chew channels and notches into the leaves, so you can tell where they have been.
Its caterpillars start out bright green and turn brown as they grow, reaching about 2.5 centimetres.
Most asked questions about Cabbage tree moth
?Where does the cabbage tree moth live?
Only in New Zealand, wherever cabbage trees grow, even in town gardens.
?What does the cabbage tree moth eat?
Its caterpillars eat young cabbage tree leaves.
?How does the cabbage tree moth hide?
Its striped wings look like dead cabbage tree leaves, so it rests on them in the day.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Epiphryne verriculata
- Named by
- Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Geometridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Geometridae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Epiphryne verriculata (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 Birgit E. Rhode, Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd.. CC BY 4.0, 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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