Scientific name: Macroglossum stellatarum.
Out of the members of the hawk moth family members, hummingbird hawk moths are probably the most attractive and cutest. They have grayish-brown forewings and orange hindwings. Their colorful hindwings become evident in their rapid flight.
Hummingbird moths get their name because of their feeding behavior, similar to hummingbirds, with their long proboscis or nose. Also, they hover over flowers and make humming sounds just like hummingbirds. They belong to the family Sphingidae, along with others like the oleander hawk moth.
Scientific name: Hyalophora cecropia.
Cecropia moths are cute moths famous for their brilliant colors and large size. This cute moth has a reddish body and reddish-brown wings with bands of white and tan, and orange markings. The cecropia moth has a wingspan of 5 to 6 inches. It’s the largest moth in North America.
They are hard to spot as they are mainly nocturnal and live primarily in rocky mountains of the United States and Canada. You’ll find the moth larvae on cherry trees, maple trees, and birch trees.
Scientific name: Tyria jacobaeae.
When it comes to ranking cute moths, there is no doubt that cinnabar moths make the list; both the adult and larvae moths are colorful. It has a bright orange body, red markings on its forewings, and scarlet on its hindwings.
The bright color of the larvae serves as a warning to predators. Cinnabar moths live in meadows, wastelands, and downlands.
Scientific name: Arctia caja.
The attractive coloration and patterns on the hindwings of this moth make it cute and appealing. The garden tiger is a pretty colorful moth found in North America and Eurasia.
It has white with attractive black markings on its forewings and orange with many black spots on its hindwings. Their colorful hindwings are warnings to predators. Garden tiger moths display their colorful hindwings when threatened. They secrete poisonous fluid from their body when a threat persists.
Scientific name: Antheraea polyphemus.
The polyphemus moth is easy to spot with its striking eyespots on both fore and hind wings. The hind wings’ eye spots are large, with yellow as the primary color and black-white strings.
The forewings spots are also yellow but smaller in size. It has a wingspan of 15cm. Their wings are not just widely spread but are also colorful with red, grey, and brown shades. It gets its name from the cyclops in Greek mythology called Polyphemus because of its sizeable solitary eyespot in the middle of its hind wings.
Scientific name: Pyrrharctia isabella.
This is another species of moth that can be classified as one of the cute moths. It’s notable for its multi-colored larvae with black-brown-red segments. People also know this as the banded woolly bear.
The adult moth has a pale yellow, scaly body and orange-yellow wings with a marked forewing. Woolly bears are endemic to the Southern United States of America and Canada.
Scientific name: Manduca quinquemaculata.
This moth is a part of the hawkmoth group, meaning that it’s relatively large with a long proboscis. The five spotted hawkmoths are the Sphingidae family's brown and grey hawk moth. It’s a threat to all Solanaceae plant family crops, including tomato, tobacco, potato, and pepper.
They are a major pest in gardens. They get their name from the raising of their posterior end and their use of tomatoes as host plants.
Scientific name: Cydia pomonella.
The codling moth has a wingspan of about 1.2 to 1.8cm, and it's about 1cm long when at rest with the wings folded. It has a grey-brownish-pale color. This moth originated in Asia but has spread out to all continents except Antarctica.
It’s the primary insect pest of pome fruits like apples and pears. The larvae not only feed on the leaves of these fruits but also on the fruits themselves. They are highly dependent on fruits as a food source. Consequently, these insects cause damage and loss since every fruit they munch on becomes unsellable.
Scientific name: Plutella xylostella.
Diamondback moths feast on any crop in the Brassicaceae plant family. They also feed on floral stalks and flower buds. Adult moths are small, slender, and greyish brown. The male moth has three diamond markings on its back. The damage diamondback moths cause is not so much from feeding but the contamination the pupae cause.
Scientific name: Mamestra brassicae.
The cabbage moth is one alarming pest for farmers. Cabbage moth is simply a common name as the species feeds on many fruits, vegetables, and crops in the genus Brassica - cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. It also eats tomato plants, potatoes, and other important crops. It’s a major pest for all brassicas.
