Goat moth
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The goat moth spends winter as a pupa as well as a caterpillar.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Goat moth
- Scientific name
- Cossus cossus
- Japanese name
- オオボクトウ
- Group
- Insects
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Cossidae
- Genus
- Cossus
A large moth found along riverbanks and in marshes, parkland, hedgerows and woodland edges.
Its caterpillars live inside the trunks of many kinds of broadleaved trees, feeding on the wood.
It spends several winters as a caterpillar, but the adult moth cannot feed at all.
How the Goat moth lives
Its caterpillars feed on trees such as willows, poplars and apple trees.
Butterfly ConservationBasic data
- Size
- Wingspan: 64–84 mm
- Diet
- Wood of broadleaved trees
- Range
- England, Scotland and Wales
Where the Goat moth has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- オオボクトウ
- 简体中文
- 芳香木蠹蛾
- 繁體中文
- 芳香木蠹蛾
- 한국어
- 굴벌레큰나방
- Español
- Mariposa de taladro rojo
- Français
- Cossus gâte-bois
- Deutsch
- Weidenbohrer
- Português (Brasil)
- Broca-vermelha
- Italiano
- Rodilegno rosso
- العربية
- حفار ساق الصفصاف
- Русский
- Древоточец пахучий
- Türkçe
- Keçi Güvesi
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- Butterfly Conservation — Goat MothChecked: 2026-11-04
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Lepidoptera
MORE TO MEET
