Winter moth: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the winter moth lives – recorded in 18 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Operophtera brumata
Group	Butterflies & moths
Found in	18 countries
Continents	Europe, North America
Class	Insect
Order	Lepidoptera
Family	Geometridae

Where does the winter moth live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the winter moth in 18 countries and territories across Europe and North America. In Canada it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the winter moth?

The winter moth (Operophtera brumata) is an insect in the order Lepidoptera and the family Geometridae, genus Operophtera. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the winter moth

The winter moth (Operophtera brumata) is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is an abundant species in Europe and the Near East and a famous study organism for evaluating insect population dynamics. It is one of very few lepidopterans of temperate regions in which adults are active in late autumn and early winter. The females of this species are virtually wingless and cannot fly, but the males are fully winged and fly strongly. After the initial frosts of late fall, the females emerge from their pupae, walk to and up trees and emit pheromones in the evening to attract males. After fertilization, they ascend to lay, on average, around 100 eggs each. Typically, the larger the female moth is, the more eggs she lays.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Winter moth (revision 1368946316), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q164002 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).