Type of moths in the uk. Discover what moths eat which moths fly during the day and other facts. This family is characterized by the presence of sound generating and sound receiving organs in the thorax chest region. While sometimes overshadowed by their colourful butterfly cousins moths are considerably more diverse with about 2500 species in the uk. Compare the 59 species of butterflies breeding in britain with some 900 species of large moths known as macro moths and a further 1550 or so species of micro moths.
To study all of britains species incuding the often very interesting microlepidoptera requires an expensive library of reference material. Learn to identify the most colourful british moths and their caterpillars including elephant hawkmoths cinnabar moths and tiger moths. They look like hairy worms and are sometimes mistaken for centipedes or millipedes. Identify a moth you can set or adjust your search criteria in the left hand column below.
Indoor moths in uk areas are rarely larger than 20 mm although there are outdoor species which can reach up to 120 mm. If you know which moth you would like more information on use our a to z of moths. Traditionally moth fieldguides have concentrated on the so called macro moths of which there are around 800 regular species. 30 common types of moths pictures facts green and vibrant.
Moth larvae are called caterpillars. With around 2500 species of moth in the uk theres an amazing amount of diversity to be discovered. There are over 160000 recorded species of moths across the globe with around 11000 of these being found in the united states and around 2500 being found in the united kingdom. There are burnet moths with black and red wings tiger moths with beautiful bold patterns and hawk moths that can be as large as your hand.
Arctiids consist of a wide variety of moths including tiger moths lichen moths and wasp moths. They also appear to be furrier and fatter than butterflies. Even the moths that are brown have intricate patterns and incredible camouflage.