Grass-Veneer Moth
This little moth from around the porch light on August 10, 2014 didn’t really look that much like a moth at first – it was only 10 mm long, kind of irregular, and looked more like a bit of chaff that had stuck to the wall.
The pose and body shape are pretty characteristic of the small, thin Crambine moths that are commonly referred to as “Grass Veneer moths”. In particular, it looks like several of the moths in the genus Fissicrambus.
These are some of the moths that fly up when you walk through a lawn that is getting to where it needs mowing. The caterpillars eat grass at night, and in some cases they get numerous enough that they damage lawns. This is mostly of concern in places like sod farms and golf courses, though. Most of the time, in an average lawn, they cause no damage of any consequence.
Comments are closed.