The lackey
Lackey moth caterpillars live together inside a shared silk tent on the host tree, enlarging it as they grow until they scatter to pupate alone.
| Where | Woodland edges and hedgerows |
|---|---|
| Size | 26 to 44 mm wingspan |
| When | June to August |
The lackey is a fairly uniform light to mid brown moth with darker cross lines and paler, sometimes creamy white hindwings, with a wingspan that ranges from about 26 to 44 mm depending on sex. Its caterpillars look nothing like the plain adult, striped in orange, white and blue over a dark body.
Caterpillars live together inside a shared silk tent spun over the host plant, enlarging it as they grow and feeding on oak, hawthorn, blackthorn and fruit trees before dispersing to pupate alone. The single generation of night flying adults favours woodland edges, hedgerows and scrubby grassland.
Traits
Habitat
Woodland
Colour
Brown, White
Active
Night
To people
Attracted to light after dark; caterpillars live in a shared silk tent, and the species is considered harmless to people.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Similar in size, the ground lackey has forewing cross lines that converge toward the middle rather than running roughly parallel, and it occurs in coastal salt marsh as well as dry heaths, sunny slopes and open steppe country, rather than the woodland edges favoured by the lackey.
Questions
Is the The lackey dangerous to people?
Attracted to light after dark; caterpillars live in a shared silk tent, and the species is considered harmless to people.
When can you see the The lackey?
The The lackey can be seen from June to August, at night.
Plate retouched from a photo by Didier Descouens, CC BY‑SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons Licence
The plate on this page is shared under the same licence as its source, CC BY-SA.
Report a mistake in this entry
Butterflies and moths›Lappet moths›Malacosoma
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.