Lime-speck pug
The Lime-speck pug's mostly white wings carry a single bold black blotch, a pattern that makes a resting moth look like a fresh bird dropping on a leaf.
| Where | Gardens, hedgerows and roadside verges |
|---|---|
| Size | 16 to 24 mm wingspan |
| When | May to September |
The Lime-speck pug is a slender white moth with a single dark blotch on the leading edge of each forewing and a faint black dot on the hindwing, leaving it otherwise plain and pale at rest.
Caterpillars feed on a wide range of low plants including ragwort, mugwort, yarrow and knapweed, and pupae overwinter in the soil; adults fly from May to September and are common in gardens, hedgerows and rough grassland.
Traits
Habitat
Garden
Colour
White, Black
Active
Night
To people
Attracted to light; harmless to people.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Both rest as convincing bird-dropping mimics, but Chinese Character has a scalloped wing margin and fine silvery lines forming a lettering pattern on a grey-brown ground, while Lime-speck Pug has a smooth wing edge with a single large dark blotch on the costa.
Questions
Is the Lime-speck pug dangerous to people?
Attracted to light; harmless to people.
When can you see the Lime-speck pug?
The Lime-speck pug can be seen from May to September, at night.
Plate retouched from a photo by Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY‑SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons Licence
The plate on this page is shared under the same licence as its source, CC BY-SA.
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Butterflies and moths›Geometer moths›Eupithecia
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.