Animal field guide
Gold Tail Moth
Euproctis similis
A pure white moth hiding a tuft of golden-yellow hairs at the tip of its abdomen. When disturbed it lies still and curls the abdomen upward to show the gold.
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Get AnimalDexGold Tail Moth at a glance
Invertebrate · Europe · Hedgerows · Relatively common
Known for: Satiny white wings and body, Golden-yellow tuft at the tip of the abdomen, Hairy black caterpillar with red lines and white, Rests with wings folded roof-like over the body
Animal field guide
Gold Tail Moth
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A pure white moth hiding a tuft of golden-yellow hairs at the tip of its abdomen. When disturbed it lies still and curls the abdomen upward to show the gold.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Hedgerows, scrub, woodland edges, orchards, parks and gardens with deciduous trees and shrubs, mostly in lowland areas across Europe and temperate Asia.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
7
Speed
21
Size
3
Intelligence
9
Rarity
17%
Total
57
Size scale
STEP 2 · PROVE IT
STEP 3 · BATTLE & FUSE
Understand the animal
Understand the Gold Tail Moth
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to Gold Tail Moth
A pure white moth hiding a tuft of golden-yellow hairs at the tip of its abdomen. When disturbed it lies still and curls the abdomen upward to show the gold.
How to identify a Gold Tail Moth
- Satiny white wings and body
- Golden-yellow tuft at the tip of the abdomen
- Hairy black caterpillar with red lines and white spots
- Rests with wings folded roof-like over the body
Why Gold Tail Moth are interesting
- Caterpillar hairs can cause an itchy rash in people who handle them.
- Its close relative, the brown-tail, is similar but has a brown rather than gold tail tuft.
- Young caterpillars skeletonise leaves, eating the surface and leaving a network of veins.
- In Britain the moth is more commonly known as the yellow-tail.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does Gold Tail Moth behave this way?
- Satiny white wings and body
- Golden-yellow tuft at the tip of the abdomen
- Hairy black caterpillar with red lines and white spots
- Rests with wings folded roof-like over the body
Adults fly at night and spend the day resting on leaves, twigs or fence posts, often on the underside of a leaf.
04
Why Hedgerows?
Habitat: Hedgerows, scrub, woodland edges, orchards, parks and gardens with deciduous trees and shrubs, mostly in lowland areas across Europe and temperate Asia.
Native range: Europe, Central Asia, East Asia
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Hedgerows, scrub, woodland edges, orchards, parks and gardens with deciduous trees and shrubs, mostly in lowland areas across Europe and temperate Asia.
05
Why this diet?
Caterpillars eat the leaves of many trees and shrubs, especially hawthorn and blackthorn, also oak, willow, birch, rose and fruit trees. Adults are not thought to feed.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
Adults fly at night and spend the day resting on leaves, twigs or fence posts, often on the underside of a leaf.
Adults live for about one to two weeks. The full life cycle takes one year, most of it spent as a caterpillar.
07
Gold Tail Moth reproduction
Eggs are laid in a flat batch on a leaf, covered with golden hairs. Caterpillars feed briefly in late summer, overwinter while small, and finish growing in spring before pupating in a cocoon among leaves. There is one generation a year.
Females are larger with a bigger gold tuft. Males have more strongly feathered antennae and usually one or two small dark marks near the rear edge of the forewing, which females normally lack.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
The hairy caterpillars are avoided by most birds, though cuckoos eat them; parasitoid wasps and flies kill many more.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 17/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 17/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
Speak to the animal
Speak to the Gold Tail Moth
It answers as itself: ask about how it lives, or bring it something of yours and hear what it would do, from its own Power.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 100/day.
Compare
Compare the Gold Tail Moth
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Battled in the Arena
No one has taken a Gold Tail Moth into an Arena battle yet. Battles players fight with this animal in the AnimalDex app show up here.
Where to find them
Where to find Gold Tail Moth
To find Gold Tail Moth in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside europe, Central Asia, East Asia than by covering too much ground.
- Forest edge, canopy gaps, fruiting trees, or shaded trails where cover and food meet
- Protected habitat blocks within europe, Central Asia, East Asia
Scientific name
Euproctis similis
Category
Invertebrate
Habitat
Hedgerows, scrub, woodland edges, orchards, parks and gardens with deciduous trees and shrubs, mostly in lowland areas across Europe and temperate Asia.
Rarity
Relatively common · 17/100
Native range
Europe, Central Asia, East Asia
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