#pug moth

[bowelfly]

kittycat

[dougdimmadodo]

Bug of the Week #002 - Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata)

Family: Geometer Moth Family (Geometridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

A small, colourful moth found across much of temperate Europe, the Foxglove Pug lays its eggs exclusively on the leaves of foxgloves (Digitalis spp.). Upon hatching the pale green larvae largely ignore their hosts’ leaves and instead burrow into their sizeable cup-shaped flowers, using silk secreted from organs in their mouths to seal the opening of a host flower shut and feeding on the seeds or organs within while the petals shelter them from predators and harsh weather. As winter approaches and their host foxglove begins to die back the mature larvae will leave their floral dens and burrow underground to pupate, emerging as adults in the following summer.

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Image Sources: Here and here.

[sir-squibbly]

Bugs are pretty cool and all, but have you ever heard of a bug that becomes poisonous because of its diet?

Oh, okay, yeah that makes a bit of sense. Caterpillars do some pretty unique stuff.

Well, I bet there isn’t any bug that can digest plastic 😏

Oh.

Okay, but there’s no way you’d ever find a caterpillar that eats other insects-

You have got to be kidding me 💀

[emotionalsupportgoblin420]

This is Rosa. She is a pug moth larvae. I'm not sure what exact species of pug moth she is. She's my pretty baby ❤️

[onenicebugperday]

@aroaceadaman​ submitted: SAW A LITTLE GUY !!! LOOK AT THIS LIL GUY !!! HE MEANS THE WORLD TO ME… northwest oregon if you wanna id!!

Oh dang a little guy!!! I love them deeply. Looks like a pug moth, but I couldn’t say which species exactly :)

[entomologize]

This is what I imagine every time I come across a pug moth

[onenicebugperday]

@umbrellas-on-bridges​ submitted: Bugs of Iceland <3 (July 2022) All have been posted to iNat but not all have received IDs (I didn’t post the warning sign obviously)! A European cranefly (T. paludosa), a warning for a pest in a greenhouse cafe, a fly (?) in the same cafe, a pretty insect on some moss by a waterfall, tiny insects on a yellow flower in the botanical garden, a fungus moth of some kind (Taneidae), a cross orbweaver (Araneus diadematus), a March fly (Dilophus) on my delicious caramel rice cake, a pug moth (Eupitheciini), and a Red Thighed St. Mark’s fly (Bibio pomonae)!

Hopefully they all post correctly, tumblr is glitching and replacing photos every time I add a new one to this submission. :~)

Ohhhh how exciting! I don’t get submissions from Iceland much! In fact maybe just one in the past. Great group of friends! Yes the third one is a fly although I can’t tell which one from that angle. The one in the moss looks like an ichneumonid wasp, though it’s not clear enough to make out the species. The friends on the yellow flower are thrips! Seems like all photos came through in order :)

[onenicebugperday]

@riannkrusnik13 submitted: Spring is here!! A few new friends I found a couple days ago after dark 😊

Pic 1 (no flash) & 2 (with flash): same pair hanging out on wall near porch light! Their colors are slightly varied but I think they’re the same species! I’d say roughly 2in from forewing tip to forewing tip in size.

Pic 3 (with flash): A friend slightly larger than first 2 pics and was hanging out in that spot for a couple days.

Pic 4 (with flash), 5 (no flash), & 6 (with flash): A different friend of I think is also the same species as pic 3 who was kind enough to crawl onto my fingertip for a small photoshoot! Fluffy!!

Pic 7 (with flash): A very tiny spiderling doing her best!! She’s roughly the size of the tip of a chopstick (very smol indeed) and is currently living directly underneath the porch light fixture.

If possible I’d love an ID on the moths (the spiderling is quite small so I’ll wait until she’s bigger for an ID)! PNW Oregon/Washington for location 😊

What a nice bunch of friends! You’re right, not much hope of IDing the spider without being able to see more detail.

The first two moths are both pug moths, which are a type of geometer in the genus Eupithecia. The one on the bottom looks like Eupithecia ravocostaliata, the tawny Eupithecia. The one above it could be the same species since they do have quite a lot of variation between individuals but I don’t feel confident about that. There are many species that look similar to the coloring on that one and some are near impossible to ID to a species level just based on a photo.

Pics 3-5 are definitely noctuids, and probably speckled green fruitworm moths, Orthosia hibisci. :)