Field Guide

The spiny oak-slug moth is named for its caterpillar, which is armed with gaudy, stiff, stinging spines. If you touch them, the sting can feel something like a bee sting.

Ailanthus webworm moths visit flowers in the daytime but also come to lights at night. Larvae live communally in silken webs in tree-of-heaven, an invasive tree from Asia.

Leaf skeletonizer moths are also called smoky moths because they have translucent smoky-brown, brownish gray, or black wings. Many species also have patches or orange or rusty color. Larvae eat all but the veins of leaves, leaving a skeleton of veins behind.

The salt marsh moth, a type of tiger moth, is strikingly white with small black spots. Males have yellow-orange hindwings. The caterpillars are fast-moving woolly bears ranging from yellowish to brown to blackish.

Sod webworms are very common small moths that develop as caterpillars among the roots and leaves of grasses. They are attracted to lights at night.

The ornate bella moth, also called the calico moth and rattlebox moth, is one of Missouri’s most attractive moths. The colors, however, are a warning to predators that this moth is toxic if eaten. Even spiders reject them.

The lettered sphinx is the earliest of our sphinx moths to emerge in springtime and may be seen starting in March and April. This single-brooded resident uses wild grapes, Virginia creeper, and peppervine as its caterpillar food plants.

The bent-line carpet and several similar geometrid moths are called carpet moths for their intricate wing patterns, reminiscent of the traditional carpets of Asia and the Middle East.

The juniper-twig geometer is one of many geometrid moths that look like a dried-up leaf. Look for them around porch lights April through November. Larvae eat junipers, including eastern red cedar.

The bilobed looper moth has a conspicuous B-shaped silvery spot on each forewing. Caterpillars of this noctuid moth eat a wide range of plants, and this species is widespread.