What Do Clothes Moth Larvae Eat

Moth caterpillars enjoy munching on the flowers and leaves of plants.

What do clothes moth larvae eat. Unlike the webbing clothes moth casemaking clothes moths seldom incorporate webbing or cocoons into the materials on which they are feeding. Do moths eat clothes. The fact is they do most of their destruction while in the larvae stage. Besides the usual plants and leaves larvae are very fond of fibers in clothes.

Incorporated into the silken case are fibers from materials the larva have fed on. Moth larvae prefer fibers of animal origin including wool mohair cashmere fur and. Herrich schaeffer when he established tineola. Two species the case making clothes moth tinea pellionella and the webbing clothes moth tineola biselliell.

Moths are often called textile pests but as mentioned its not the moths who eat clothes but rather the larvae or caterpillars. They then begin to eat the fibres in the material which causes holes in clothes or loss of pile in patches on carpets. These feeding tunnels are often the same color as the material of the clothes the moth larvae is damaging as the tunnels are made of fabric particles and excrement. Webbing clothes moth larvae spin little tunnels that they travel through as they devour your sweaters and coats.

Tineola bisselliella known as the common clothes moth webbing clothes moth or simply clothing moth is a species of fungus moth family tineidae subfamily tineinaeit is the type species of its genus tineola and was first described by arvid david hummel in 1823. The specific name is commonly misspelled biselliella for example by g. Freeze any clothes or belongings that show signs of moths. The casemaking clothes moth encloses itself in an open ended tubular case which it drags about wherever it goes.

How do they cause damage. There are plenty of things in our homes for clothes moth larvae to feast on. The larvae that hatch from the eggs of clothes moths spin silk webbing into a tunnel across the attacked material. Clothes moth larvae eat just about any form of natural and animal fibers.

Moth larvae have a fairly specific diet and so female moths typically pick clothes made from animal fibers such as silk wool cashmere angora or fur materials that contain keratin.